To increase efficiency in the county's animal control department and to provide more services to residents, sheriff's deputies are being trained and eventually will be certified as animal control officers in addition to their law enforcement duties. "I thought it would be a good idea to get the deputies some training so that they know how to handle animals in those kinds of situations," he said. The county will still employ animal control officer Mike Ring and Estancia Valley Regional Animal Shelter director Cindi Sullivan as animal control officers.
Ring is the only full-time animal control officer. "I don't want anybody getting bit or anything," he said during a training session Monday. Sullivan attended the sheriff's department training and gave deputies a 20-minute course on handling dogs, what expertise she can provide the department and some basic ideas for interacting with dogs.
To see if a dog is friendly or aggressive, Sullivan suggested that deputies open and slam their car doors without leaving the unit to see how the dog will react. "If the dog comes barreling at you, just stay in your car and call me or (Ring)," she said. Some dogs can be won over with dog biscuits, she said.
"Give them a (biscuit) or a piece of your sandwich," Sullivan said. The key to dealing with dogs, she explained to the deputies, is to be resourceful. One EMT, Sullivan said, was called to a home where three dogs would not let emergency personnel out of the vehicle even though the owner needed medical attention.
"It worked like a charm," she said. "The dogs started chasing the gloves and (EMTs) got into the house where the man needed medical attention." If deputies have any doubts about a dog or any other animal they can call Sullivan or Ring, she said.
The training is meant to enable deputies to handle some animal control calls while she and Ring are on others, Sullivan said. In most cases, she said, animal control problems can be solved with a phone call or conversation with the person who is having the problem. After the training session, Gibson said he plans to continue animal control training for the deputies when possible.
"It's something that we really need in this county," he said.
News RSS