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Students have lesson with K-9 unit
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Neighbors | Natalie Wright.Second-grade classes at Dobbins Elementary School had a lesson with Poland Township Police Officer Brian Cionni (front) and his K-9 partner, Eros, Nov. 26.
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Neighbors | Natalie Wright.Eros, the Belgian Malinois, is one of the K-9 police dogs used at the Poland Township Police Department.
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Neighbors | Natalie Wright.Poland Township Police Officer Brian Cionni brought his K-9 unit partner, Eros, for second-grade students at Dobbins Elementary School to observe duning the K-9 lesson Nov. 26.
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Neighbors | Natalie Wright.Members of the Poland Township Police Department joined Officer Brian Cionni (left) in giving second-grade Dobbins students a lesson on the K-9 unit Nov. 26.
Officer Brian Cionni and several other members of the Poland Township Police Department visited Dobbins Elementary School Nov. 26 to teach second-grade students about K-9 police dogs.
“The class study of the K-9 program began with a fundraiser. The kids have been doing papers on the dogs and many papers were sent home about it,” said Brian Goodin, Police Chief of Poland Township. “The kids sold dog tags and the proceeds went to the K-9 program. One of the teachers knows Officer Cionni and he agreed to do an interview with the students.”
Cionni told the students about how a police dog is used within the police department to help in different ways.
“Police dogs are used in a lot of different ways,” said Cionni. “They use their senses of smell to locate drugs, can be used to help locate criminals, but they also can be used to help locate lost children or elderly, which is really important.”
Cionni went on to say that K-9 unit dogs are trained to only listen to commands given to them by their trainers and that many of the commands the dogs know are in Dutch.
“A majority of the K-9 dogs in our area are Belgian Malinois, which are from Holland,” said Cionni. “The dogs are a great tool and one of the most important things a police department can have.”
In addition to telling the students about working with a K-9 dog, Cionni also discussed the special care that goes into working with them, including training, home life versus kenneling and more.
Cionni also brought Eros, his K-9 partner, for the students to observe.