Women’s History Month Page 2
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NAS Sailors of the Quarter Page 13
VOLUME 70, NUMBER 12
NAVAL AIR STATION PATUXENT RIVER, MARYLAND
MARCH 28, 2013
Military working dogs patrol Pax River
By Donna Cipolloni Tester staff writer
A second military working dog was added to NAS Patuxent River’s Public Safety Department when Abba, a 2 1/2-year-old Belgian Malinois, joined the force in December. “We currently have two MWDs and three handlers,” explained Master-at-Arms 1st Class Kenneth Mack, kennel supervisor and handler. “One of our teams is Abba and MA3 [Lance] Kalahar and the other is Bleck and MA2 [Evan] Desrosiers.” Bleck, a 5-year-old German shepherd, joined the department in May 2012. German shepherds and Belgian malinois are two breeds most often used as military working dogs because of their high energy, intelligence, athleticism and loyalty. Abba, dual-certified for patrol and detection, came to Pax River from the Military Working Dog Training Program located at Lackland Air
Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Lackland is the MWD program headquarters and provides dogs to all branches of the armed services. Kalahar, her handler, must also undergo weeks of certification training and know how to care for and control his canine partner, learn basic obedience commands, and the proper procedures for patrolling and searching an area. “I communicate with her through verbal and hand commands then reward her with toys and praise when she performs the commands properly,” he said. “She loves her toys and will work very hard to get them—and to please me.” As a new team, it’s important for Kalahar to bond with Abba and build a rapport by playing with her and running her through the training/obedience obstacle course daily. “It’s fun for the dogs but also provides lots of realworld scenarios to prepare them for situations they may encounter like confined
spaces, window obstacles, stairs, A-frames, catwalks or jumping up onto high surfaces,” Mack said. “It gets them acclimated and makes them comfortable.” When Kalahar is training Abba to perform a task, he tries to looks at it from her perspective. “I ask how I would get a dog to do this,” he explained. “I try to get into the dog’s head and find out what drives it, then harness that drive to make the dog do what I want. It takes a lot of patience and creativity.” The Pax MWDs are used not only to sniff out contraband or to locate and attack a perpetrator, but to also provide a psychological deterrent. “We’ll patrol our MWDs in the areas of highest visibility like the entry gates, the fence line, or large public gathering spaces like the NEX,” Mack said. “We also conduct routine building searches. If anyone is
See Dogs, Page 14
U.S. Navy photo by Donna Cipolloni
Abba, NAS Patuxent River’s newest military working dog, works daily with her handler, Master-at-Arms 3rd Class Lance Kalahar, on the installation’s training/obedience obstacle course. The course tests the dog’s agility and coordination and prepares her for real-life scenarios she may face such as confined spaces, hurdles, stairs, A-frames and more. Abba, certified in both detection and patrol, can reach a running speed of 25 to 30 mph.