BROWNSVILLE — With only a little gray under his chin, Luke might not have the appearance of being almost 13 years old.
However, Luke, a K-9 unit from the Troup Police Department, has been an officer even longer than his handler, Kyle Stowers, who has served nine years.
The two placed 11th in last year’s National Narcotic Detector Dog Association Annual Police K-9 Conference, and Stowers was optimistic about this year’s competition Friday morning at St. Joseph Academy in Brownsville.
“I felt comfortable. I trust my dog. He (told) me where it (was), and he was confident in what he found,” Stowers said. “He’s kind of the old man of the group. He’s almost 13 years old. He’s the pro, the veteran here.”
Stowers and Luke competed against 77 other teams from all over Texas on Friday in Brownsville.
Edward Delgado and his companion, Uma, from Socorro Independent School District in El Paso, are entering their first year of working together. They came to the conference to become certified, and they succeeded.
“We did it with flying colors. All I see the competition as is another training opportunity,” he said, holding an excited Uma.
Delgado has found each trainer at the conference to be helpful. Working at an independent school district, there are only a few categories he and Uma are exposed to.
“The conference was a wealth of knowledge. … Getting opportunities to run these different trainings and meet the trainers exposes the dogs to more narcotics scenarios, and it is interesting to see how they react,” Delgado said.
The conference would not have been possible without the teamwork of the Brownsville Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, the Brownsville Community Improvement Corporation and everyone at the Brownsville Police Department, said Brownsville police officer Marco Huerta, event coordinator.
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