VAN BUREN COUNTY, MI — Whether by locating a missing child, assisting on a narcotics bust, tracking a suspect or clearing a house for the regional SWAT team, Van Buren County police dog Kuno has quickly became a well-respected officer among his peers.
Two years into his tenure with the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office, Kuno still spends his nights sleeping in his partner’s heated garage. But unlike his partner, Deputy Eric Calhoun, Kuno has never been bothered with preparing his own meals or cleaning up after himself.
One of three (soon to be four) active police dogs in the department, the Belgian Malinois is Calhoun’s first K-9 partner. The two started working together when Kuno was 16 months old.
“Initially it was a little nerve-racking," Calhoun said. “When I first got into law enforcement, I always knew that I wanted to be part of the K-9 program. I’ve had personal pet dogs, but never a working dog. There’s a really big difference between the two as far as the training goes. It’s a never-ending learning experience."
Calhoun, who also has a 10-year-old pit bull named Zeek at home, is constantly working with Kuno.
Similar to the other police dogs and handlers in the department, the two spend eight hours every two weeks at a training facility in South Haven. There, they work on jumping over fences and through windows, walking a catwalk, running down slides and crawling underneath an obstacle that resembles what it would be like to go under a trailer or into a crawlspace.
Kuno, who was completely untrained when the department purchased him from a breeder in the Netherlands, is now certified by the National Association of Professional Canine Handlers in tracking, apprehension, obedience and narcotics detection.
“Throughout my shift, if there is down time, I’m always laying a track or going to the tow yard and using one of their damaged vehicles to hide drugs and teach him how to sniff drugs,” Calhoun said.
While Kuno does specialize in narcotics detection, he is not trained to sniff out marijuana. The department does have one dog that is trained on marijuana detection, which the department uses to go into schools and to help prevent interstate trafficking, Calhoun said.
“The issue is, for one, once you train a dog on marijuana you can never train him off of it," he said. “If there is a car with 100 pounds of cocaine and a little bit of weed in it you can’t tell if your dog hits the marijuana or cocaine.”
But Kuno can sniff out cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and methamphetamine, Calhoun said, something that can come in handy when the two are on a traffic stop and don’t otherwise have probable cause or the driver’s consent to search the vehicle.
“We can just run him around the perimeter of the vehicle and he can pick up the scent,” Calhoun said.
Kuno’s nose leads him into the field often to track missing persons. Some of the most memorable tracks, Calhoun said, have been when the dog helped locate an elderly man with dementia, and another when he located a missing 3-year-old in the woods.
Perhaps the hardest thing about partnering with Kuno; however, may be when Kuno is deployed to clear a house during a SWAT raid.
“The fear does build up when you send a dog in, but that’s something you kind of have to cope with when you take on the role of being a K-9 handler," Calhoun said. “I trust this guy with my life and the fact that you may have to send your dog in — and the outcome may not go well — is tough.
“The bond between me and K-9 Kuno is somewhat unbearable. It’s kind of like having another kid. I take him home with me at the end of my shift, he socializes with my family and then I get to take him to work and work with me for 12 hours."
That bond with Kuno has only made Calhoun a better officer, according to Van Buren County Sheriff Dan Abbott.
“Eric has always taken a lot of pride in everything he has done, but since getting Kuno he has really taken it up a level,” Abbott said. “Even when he is off the clock he is constantly working Kuno, working with other departments in Kalamazoo, South Haven, Cass County, Gun Lake; doing whatever it takes. He always wants to be the best.”
Earlier this fall, Kuno and Calhoun were named finalists in the Vested Interested K-9 SUV giveaway. The Massachusetts-based nonprofit raises funds to support police dog programs nationwide.
If the Van Buren County partners win, they would soon be sporting a new ride that would benefit the two of them, the sheriff’s office and also save taxpayers money.
There are 29 duos representing 18 different states on the ballot — four of which are from Michigan. In addition to Kuno and Calhoun, there are partners from Marysville, Saginaw and Hazel Park among the contest’s finalists.
Online voting, which began Oct. 1, is open until 8 a.m. Oct. 31. People can vote once per day.
At the end of the month, the K-9 team with the highest number of votes will receive a brand new 2019 Chevy Tahoe fully outfitted for dog and deputy.
“It would be huge for us,” Abbott said. “We budget for four new SUVs each year and rotate out the old. A unit like that costs about $60,000. It would save taxpayers a lot of money.
"Plus it would be really good for Eric. He works really hard, and it’s nice when good things happen to good people.”
