The Arizona Law Enforcement Canine Association in conjunction with the City of Scottsdale and the Scottsdale Police Department K-9 unit held the 2019 Desert Dog Police K9 Trials last weekend (April 6 and April 7) at Scottsdale Stadium. Almost 5,000 people attended the event with some coming from as far away as Massachusetts and Maryland.

During the Trials, attendees watched as police, military, and government K-9 teams from Arizona and Mexico competed in a variety of field exercises. In addition, some of the competing teams gave demonstrations of their capabilities.

Building search exercises and explosives and narcotic search exercise were not open to the public. Organizers said these trials had to be conducted in a controlled environment and could not be watched by the attendees.

The events that the teams competed in included: Handler Protection, Tactical Building Search, Building Search, Agility/Obstacle course, Area Search, and Narcotics and Explosives Search.

The following is a list of individual winners:

Tough Dog: Lumpi, Phoenix PD—Handled by Dan Bill

Explosives: Kylo, Phoenix PD—Handled by Christopher Villa

Narcotics: Rango, Luke Air Force Base—Handled by Cameron McFadden

Obedience: Tarzan, Maricopa County SO—Handled by Charles Guilkers

Tactical Challenge: Mirko, Maricopa County SO—Handled by Dan Russell

Building Search: Quinzee, Peoria PD—Handled by Joey Smith

Area Search: Rudy, Goodyear PD—Handled by Josh White

Handler Protection: Kai, Scottsdale PD—Handled by Brent Patterson

Top Dog: Azzer, Goodyear PD—Handled by Ben Armstead

The following is a list of team winners:

Detection: Surprise PD

Patrol: Goodyear PD

The annual Desert Dog Police K-9 Trials are not funded by any public funds. All costs associated with this event must be raised through donations, sales of program ad space, or vendor booth fees. Vendors were on site selling shirts, hats, and other K-9 and police-related products. K-9, SWAT, and aviation unit vehicles were on display.

For more information, go to https://www.alecapolicek9.com

Go here for a photo gallery of the event.