- Let's go buddy, come on.
I'm Christy Vales and this is my K-9 partner Ruger.
Come on, gotta go!
I've been a Game Warden for approximately 11 years
and I'm stationed in the Travis County area.
He is a certified Peace Officer,
you know, he's been commissioned.
His badge number is K-9-5.
All of our dogs are very high drive, they need a job.
The job that we give them is to use their nose.
You know it's just a win-win for everybody.
I really enjoy K-9 because you know, you create a
bond with your dog, you do a lot of training, and then when
you get that call, you know, to go help another officer,
you know, it's extremely rewarding.
I served four years in the Air Force doing law enforcement
and I was exposed to K-9 at that point.
So that's really where my interest in K-9 began.
Our program started in 2013 and we did all of our
training in Utah post, which is equivalent to Texas DPS.
We have traveled there for narcotics,
police search and rescue, instructor school.
That's where we have received most of our training.
Some of the calls we have been on include illegal
game searches, search and rescue of a missing person
including criminal tracks.
We have also have been on a lot of article recovery
for evidence.
The dogs can quickly locate items and cut down on
search time.
We assist a lot with water safety patrol.
When we're out there trying to find boaters that are
boating while intoxicated, they could also be impaired
on controlled substances, and our dogs can help find those.
- How y'all doing?
We're going to come aboard here for a second.
[bird chirping]
- My name is Sam Shanafelt and I'm a Texas Game Warden.
[upbeat music]
Blitz, who is my partner, he's with me every day.
He is the one partner that will always keep you going.
He's never tired, he's always ready to go.
He's something that you need, and we need him up here
or across the state finding deer,
or shell casings or rifles or pistols.
He's trained when he finds it, he lays down.
If it's something on a wildlife basis,
a deer or a blood drop or a shell casing -
all he knows is an award pops up.
And he's ready to find something again.
So growing up as a kid in East Texas, I can say that
I grew up in probably the best region in the state,
the piney woods.
When you're at the house, he gets just to be
part of the family.
He gets to run around and play with the other dogs
and plays with my son Cooper.
But then it comes to a point when you watch him
out there, he's done.
He says, "It's time to go back to work, Dad."
He still knows that he has a job to do and his job is
to go to work with me and find something.
There we go!
So we had a group of hunters come in.
What we want Blitz to do is to work the boat,
go to the largest source of odor.
So one thing you're going to notice is the amount of odor
that's going to be all over the boat.
Shotgun residue, ducks that have been in there in the past,
and ducks that may be in there now,
so we just used Blitz to see if they left anything behind,
and sure enough they left a duck in there.
So they were able to keep the bird and it keeps them
from getting a citation for a waste of game.
All-in-all no violations but it was a good find for the dog.
[dogs barking]
- CHRISTY: Today we're doing an organized group training.
We rarely get to meet like this because we're
all spread out across the state.
- Game Warden K-9 search and rescue.
I'm sending my dog, make some noise.
[energetic music]
♪ ♪
- CHRISTY: Oh good boy!
We couldn't do this type of work without the funding
and generous donations from the public who donated to
Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.
Good job buddy!
- ROBIN STARNES: Carman, watch.
I started in 1976 and I've done everything from
conformation to obedience to hunt test to therapy dogs.
[whistle]
Good girl Carman!
And always loved how the dogs can work with people
and they love to have jobs.
And so part of the K-9 unit is those wonderful dogs that
you know help support the K-9 officers and do their jobs.
Come on, good girl.
- BOB STARNES: When they first started them up,
they were looking for funds to help the K-9 units get started.
I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to honor
Robin's involvement with dogs over the last 30 years
and sponsor one of the K-9 units for her.
- Good.
Sook.
- BOB: I would encourage everybody to help support
these K-9 units with the equipment and the dogs
and the training they need to perform their mission.
It's amazing how many missions they perform
in service to the general public.
- GAME WARDEN: What you got Woodrow?
Did you get the man?
Woooo!
Good boy.
- So I got a call this morning from Sonny,
the Game Warden out of Bastrop County,
and he entered a property to check a group of dove hunters.
I continue to be in route because Sonny felt
maybe there is, there was a chance that they
hid a shotgun or something.
I was going to assist with Ruger to do an article search.
[door closes]
How's it going Sonny?
- We've got a 13-year-old that just came out right now.
He stated he wasn't hunting.
I'm going to finish writing the ticket and see what they say.
- CHRISTY: Now are they related in any way?
Brothers?
- SONNY: They're friends.
- CHRISTY: Okay.
How y'all doing?
State Game Warden Christy Vales.
How's it going?
- You mind stepping out with this officer real quick?
- CHRISTY: How are you, young man?
So are you doing any hunting today?
- Ah, no ma'am.
- Not at all?
- No.
- Do you have a hunting license?
- No I do not.
- Okay.
Most of you don't have a hunting license.
So I'm going to get my K-9 partner out, Ruger,
just to clear the area and make sure that we don't find
any shotguns or anything like that, okay?
- Alright.
- So no hunting at all?
- Well, I have been doing a little bit of hunting.
- Okay.
Is your shotgun here so we can check it to make sure
you've got a plug in it?
- I don't know where it is.
- You don't know where it's at.
Okay.
Well I appreciate you being honest about hunting, okay?
What we're going to do is if you can just go back there
and just stay with Officer Alaniz
and then I'm going to get my K-9 out, okay?
- Okay.
- CHRISTY: Good boy.
You ready to go to work?
Ready to go to work?
That's a good boy.
Let's go.
Ready?
Ruger!
Any time we go on a real deployment it's a brand
new area, new smells, he can feel our adrenaline
and excitement.
It's a lot different than a training scenario.
So, he did very well.
[dog barks]
That's a good boy.
Good job buddy.
Oh that's a good one there buddy!
As a K-9 handler, I will not touch the evidence.
Because I don't want my fingerprints on it.
I'll go back and contact Warden Alaniz,
but because there's only two of us, officer safety,
I'll just go switch, watch the guys, put Ruger up
and he can come back and take photos and get the shotgun.
- SONNY: So, I'm going to go ahead and give you
a verbal warning.
No ticket this time but if it happens again,
you will get a ticket.
Do you understand?
- Yes sir. - Alright.
Well go ahead and step back over there.
- CHRISTY: It's very unfortunate that the individual
that is hiding evidence is the minor, the 13-year-old.
If the adults that he was with had hunter's education,
this probably would have been avoided and the
young child would have been educated on the
ethics of hunting.
You know several of the adults didn't have a
hunting license and it's just not a good example for you know
the young 13-year-old.
[music]
- CHRISTY: Ready?
You ready?
Go get it!
[splash]
Good boy!
It's our scheduled day off.
I like to take Ruger to the park and just let him run
and be a dog and enjoy himself, so he doesn't
have any stress.
Good boy.
Today we're just out here throwing the ball
and you know just letting him swim and have a good time.
[splash]
Good boy.
All of us Game Warden K-9 units, we love what we do
and we're very dedicated to serving the public.
These K-9's are amazing animals and we are
extremely proud to have them as our K-9 partners.
That's a good boy!
Good job buddy!
[dog panting]