There will be a new presence in the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Department later this year.

Sheriff Marty Argenbright recently went to the training facility in Atlantic, Iowa, to observe their K9 program and was very impressed with his department’s new dog Rage, a female Belgian Shepherd, who was being trained in not only narcotics detection, but tracking, search & rescue and the actual takedown of criminals. Rage will be teamed up with her new handler, Deputy Kent Gries, once the two complete training together in October.  Deputy Gries, a former dog handler with the K9 unit in Audubon, is looking forward to working with Rage.

Both Argenbright and Gries rallied local businesses and private individuals in the Guthrie County area for donations and together they met the $12,000 to cover the costs of obtaining Rage and all the training involved.

Argenbright is looking forward to the addition of these 2 new team members and feels that the drug problem we are currently dealing with is here; it’s not slowing down and it’s not going away.  Argenbright says that any time you can use a dog that helps get drugs users and pushers off the streets is an asset to the entire community and the individuals living there.

As for the department’s former K-9 Raven, he was a shelter dog that was trained in narcotics detection and served the department admirably for 7 years.  Argenbright was happy to say that Raven is now  “living the dog’s life”.  Raven has been adopted by a good family and spends his days running free on the acreage he now calls home.

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