Worth sniffing about
Kootenai County Sheriff K9 Deputy Jim Dooley and his K9, Bailey, use a tennis ball to scent for dangerous materials Wednesday at the Pierce Clegg Building off Dalton Avenue. Brody Gasper, in back, helped build two new “scent walls” that all law enforcement agencies in the area will be able to utilize with K9 training to find missing people in buildings, sniff out drugs, and find bombs. LOREN BENOIT/Press
Kootenai County Sheriff Deputies Austin Norris, left, and Jim Dooley help move a new "scent wall" into the Pierce Clegg Building off Dalton Avenue on Wednesday. The new walls will be used by local area law enforcement agencies (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Kootenai County Sheriff K9 Deputy Jim Dooley and his K9, Bailey, run through a dangerous materials exercise Wednesday at the Pierce Clegg Building off Dalton Avenue. L aw enforcement use these "sniff walls" for K9 training. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
By BRIAN WALKER
Staff Writer
COEUR d'ALENE — The sniffers of K9 law enforcement dogs throughout the region have received a new and improved test.
Brody Gasper, a member of Boy Scout Troop 290 in Coeur d'Alene, spent about 50 hours building K9 training scent walls he donated Wednesday to Kootenai County for his community service project toward becoming an Eagle Scout.
"I wanted my project to be something useful for the community and I'm a dog guy myself," Gasper said. "If it's not beneficial to the community, it's just not quite as exciting."
Keith Hutcheson, director of the county's Adult and Misdemeanor Probation Program, said the gift will enhance K9 training for all North Idaho agencies. Collaboration takes place each Wednesday at the Pierce Clegg Work Release Center next to the Kootenai County Jail to test their dogs to sniff out drugs and bombs or find people.
"This wall will help us round out our training room and is a major improvement from the walls that we have," Hutcheson said.
The double-sided wall with stands has tubing in the back. In that tubing, items can be placed for the dogs to sniff from the front side.
Gasper said materials for the walls cost about $500, and Lowe's funded about half of the project. He said his grandfather, Michael Robinson, assisted with the effort.
"They did an excellent job on it," Hutcheson said.
Hutcheson allowed Gasper to put drug-sniffing K9 Vulcan, handled by Adult and Misdemeanor Probation, to the test.
Gasper, a Boy Scout since he was 12 and whose family has two Labradors, beamed when he saw Vulcan in action and swiftly accomplish his mission.
Gasper received his associate's degree in general studies from North Idaho College before he graduated from Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy. He hasn't declared a major, but plans to take classes through Brigham Young University-Idaho this fall.
Gasper said his father, Tom, formerly worked in law enforcement in Las Vegas, so he wanted to complete a project that benefitted such local agencies. He learned about the K9 need at Kootenai County through church and friends.
"All it took was a little bit of carpentry," he said. "It's cool that the dogs will have this to train with."