Eglin K-9 team competes in regional contest

  • Published
  • By Samuel King Jr.
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Sit, stay, fetch and roll over.

Rex is WAY past that. He and his handler Staff Sgt. David Aenchbacher, 96th Security Forces Squadron, recently competed in a K-9 competition against the best local and regional handlers at a contest in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

Sergeant Aenchbacher and Rex were the only military team out of 54 teams competing at the United States Police Canine Association event and placed in many categories.

"It has always been something I'd been interesting in doing," said the five-year handler. "I've always wanted to train my dog up and see how good he could really be."

Participating in their first-ever competition, Eglin's team took first in the Florida two-man team event, second in the novice (first-year) category and placed in the top 10 in agility and suspect search categories.

The chance to compete provided Sergeant Aenchbacher a new opportunity to train in other areas specific to the contest.

"During the four months of training (leading up to the contest), I was training on new and different techniques that would be judged," he said. "Up until two days before the competition, I was learning new stuff."

He trained with members of Okaloosa County Sheriffs Dept. to prepare and said they gave him valuable tips to ensure he earned the maximum amount of points.

One of the challenges was to retrain Rex to stand up on the "stay" command. In the Air Force, K-9s are trained to sit at the "stay" command, but in this contest the dogs stand. Sergeant Aenchbacher practiced a few methods with Rex including halting him in specific areas to ensure he'd remain standing.

Another method his counterparts helped him with was to prevent Rex from anticipating the commands. They advised him to break up the pattern of the course to ensure Rex would wait to be told where to proceed.

"It made a big difference," said Sergeant Aenchbacher, who's handled four dogs in his 10-year career. "He listened perfectly and didn't jump ahead. We only lost a point and a half out of 150 on the agility portion due to those changes."

Based on the positive responses Sergeant Aenchbacher received from the judges and fellow competitors, Eglin's kennel master sees the potential in having more of his dog teams compete.

"Getting out and competing is a good way for us to better ourselves as handlers and trainers," said Tech. Sgt. Gary King, 96th Security Forces Squadron. "There are 10 million ways to train a dog and when you get handlers from all over the region in one spot information exchange to train is endless."