The Franklin Police Department has begun training two new K9s. The dogs were set to join the force for duty toward the end of summer.
One of the dogs, Duke, is originally from Holland and is about two years old. The other K9 is named Jenks, after a Tennessee Highway patrolman who died in the line of duty in 2007, and he is not quite two years old.
Officer Brett Spivy, who handles Jenks, decided to name the K9 the fallen patrolman because of his personal and professional relationship with Jenks prior to his death.
He hoped Jenks' name will honor a fallen hero and keep the Jenks name alive when it comes to serving Tennessee.
"They play a vital role on the street, they provide a heightened level of officer safety." Spivy said of the police dogs.
Jenks and Duke go through daily training for agility and searching so they're prepared to meet any challenge they face while on the job.
"All of our dogs are dual trained, trained to sniff out narcotics and trained to sniff out human odor." Spivy explained. "They have to have the ability to do what we say when we say it."
While the K9s are police dogs, they're also partners to their handlers. From the day they're certified into service until the day the dogs retire, they'll be at the side of their partners for the good times and the bad.
"They are our partner." Spivy said. "They ride with us from the minute we come into work until the minute we go home, and then at home, they get to be a dog."
Spivy said he expected the dogs to be done with their training and certified by mid-August.
