Dec 19, 2013 By Dave Zuchowski, For The Greene County Messenger 6 min read

WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Police Department Patrolman Asa Winters, 28, has had a dog for most of his life. He got his first canine, a golden retriever named Holly, in the third grade and had her for 12 or 13 years until she passed.

“Holly was like a member of the family,” Winters said.

Next came Nettles, an American bulldog, that now lives with his parents near Ruff Creek.

Winters’ current dog, a three-year old German Shepherd named Izzy, is much more than a pet. After both she and Winters were certified in obedience, tracking and article, area and building search by the North American Police Dog Association in October, Izzy was approved by the Waynesburg Borough Council on Dec. 9 as the newest member of the police force.

“Izzy was certified by master trainer Gerard Purcell through the NAPDA,” said Winters. “Izzy and I had to go to Pittsburgh to be certified by him, and we met with a lot of other dog-handler teams who needed to be certified or recertified.”

During the certification exam, Izzy had to go though several exercises for obedience. After she was taken off her leash, she had to heel behind Winters for 100 feet. He also had her lie down and not move for three minutes until he gave her a signal to get up. She also had to find two of three hidden articles in three minutes that were hidden in a certain area.

“Izzy is considered to be passive alert, meaning when she runs around a room or car looking for drugs and gets the scent, she lies down,” Winters said. “On the other hand, aggressive dogs often scratch a site when they scent something.”

When looking for the right type of canine to work in a police capacity, Winters said officers try to select those with high drives often measured by their desire for a toy. Winters said that when a dog sniffs for drugs, they actually think they’re looking for a toy.

Out of the eight full-time officers and one part-time officer on the Waynesburg police force, Winters is the only one that handles Izzy. The dog lives with him at his house in Waynesburg, and he considers her both a partner and a pet.

“Since I bought her in March, Izzy has built a bond with me,” Winters said. “She knows who’s boss and is very protective. She spends a lot of time with me and my family and knows I’m the alpha male and that she’s the alpha female. Right now, she’s getting to know the other officers and she loves them. Like a person, she also knows when it’s time to work and when it’s time to play.”

All of Izzy’s eight or nine commands are spoken in a foreign language, and her exercises are collar associated. When she wears a flat collar, for instance, she knows she’s expected to sniff mostly for drugs. A full body harness means it is time to track, and the choke collar means she has to behave better because she knows her actions can be corrected.

“German Shepherds are good for police work because they’re obedient and very intelligent,” Winters said.

Izzy and Winters are still undergoing training weekly for narcotics detection and aggression control, but can be used at the moment in a lot of different situations. Her specialty is tracking, whether it be for a missing child or a person afflicted with Alzheimer’s.

Although Winters works a full-time schedule, he’s been easing Izzy into the job gradually in two to four-hour-a-day stints. While at work, Winters continues to put her through a lot of her exercises.

Winters and Izzy started to train in early spring of 2010 with officer Mike Yeager of the Masontown Police Department and Chief Craig Miller of the Cumberland Township Police Department.

“I want to give both of these officers a special thanks,” Winters said. “Izzy needed to be trained, but I needed training twice as much as she did.”

In the past, the Waynesburg Police Department has had a canine officer. Former police officer Brian Tennant took the dog with him when he became county sheriff.

Weekly, Winters and Izzy, Tennant and canine Dogen, Yeager and canine Brawny and Miller and canine Artis train together at various places.

Winters also takes Izzy to visit his parents near Ruff Creek. Izzy and Nettles are very playful together, and Izzy works off a lot of energy running around the spacious property.

“Izzy goes everywhere with me,” Winters said. “I can take her to churches and events in town such as Rain Day and football games and talk about her and how she’s used and give demos on obedience and article searches.”

The Waynesburg Police Department should get many years of service from their new canine. Winters said some dogs work as much as ten years but a lot depends on the dog itself. One thing Izzy can expect is not to be neutered – at least until she retires, because that should keep her drive on a high level. Winters is, however, considering breeding Izzy sometime down the road.

In early fall, Winters and police Chief Robert J. Toth started a fund for the canine unit. The goal is to keep the fund going so the department will always have a canine on the force.

Winters grew up in the Waynesburg area and attended Waynesburg University. When he was certified as a police officer, he was hired as a part-time officer in December of 2010 and became a full-time employee in June of this year.

“At 26, I knew I wanted to continue to live in Greene County and bought Izzy in March,” he said.

Even though Winters is assigned the dog handling duties, he doesn’t get any extra salary or financial support for the care of Izzy.

“We’re proud of Asa who took the initiative to buy and train the dog,” Chief Toth said. “He doesn’t get paid extra for his work, which shows the pride he has in his job. We feel the dog will prove beneficial to the borough in a large number of ways.”