K-9 officers from across the southeast U.S. to showcase their skills in Lakeland Wednesday

Police dogs show off their skills

FOX 13's Kimberly Kuizon gives us an up close and personal look at the K-9 officers that are showing off their skills this week in Lakeland.

LAKELAND, Fla. - When Lakeland Police Officer Morgan Mumbauer-Bardwell and K-9 Summit are dispatched, they are the first to respond to any major call.

"We are the tip of the spear. When we are working on nightshift and patrol, we go into the calls that are the craziest first, and we get to lead our team," she told FOX 13.

That’s why training and certification is vital.

"Every day is something new. We get out here, we train. He has a personality, I have a personality. We get to work through those things together," said Officer Mumbauer-Bardwell.

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Officer Mumbauer-Bardwell and K-9 Summit are one of several teams from across the Southeastern U.S. that will be certifying in areas like obedience, suspect and article search and criminal apprehension.

K-9 officers from across the southeast U.S. will showcase their skills in Lakeland on Wednesday.

"The certification is a base line test. You’ll see out here, the obedience is very baseline, the apprehension work is very baseline. There’s a lot more that has to happen, but to get to the other stuff we want to know that your dog will release when told too, your dog will return when called, your dog is very obedient and social. Once these teams go back with this test passed it’s a better product for their community," said Lakeland Police Sgt. Aaron Peterman and the USPCA Region 1 President.

Some will also receive certification in detection for narcotics, explosives, firearms and more.

The United States Police Canine Association Region 1 Field Trials also turns into a competition.

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K-9 officers from across the southeast U.S. will showcase their skills in Lakeland on Wednesday.

With each K-9 showcasing their best and giving everyone a look into how these teams work throughout our communities.

"Everybody is a dog lover and when we go into the community we want people to see that these dogs have a job, but they’re very social. They’re very down the middle and it’s not a bad thing. That’s to me is the biggest thing," said Sgt. Peterman.

What you can do:

A public demo will be held at Kathleen High School on Wednesday, February 12th at 6 p.m.

The public can see a special demonstration from competing K-9 teams and will be able to meet Lakeland Police Department handlers and their K-9 partners.

You can visit their website for more information.

The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Kimberly Kuizon.

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