Telegraph Staff Writer
Waldo is like a lot of dogs in that he’ll fetch a ball, but what sets him apart from others is that he’ll fetch a firearm as well.
As part of the effort to ensure that children are as safe as they can possibly be while at school, the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office received K-9 Deputy Waldo with the help of school-safety advocate Andrew Pollack, whose daughter, Meadow, lost her life during the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting at Parkland’s Stoneman Douglas High School.
“Through a grant, we were able to get that dog,” Sheriff Gordon Smith said. “We received him specifically for the schools.”
People’s common perception of law-enforcement dogs most likely has to do with drug detection, but Waldo, a German Shepherd-Belgian Malinois mix, possesses a skill set most people may not think of.
“Waldo has been a game changer in that he can detect firearms and ammunition,” said Maj. Brad Smith, Bradford County’s undersheriff.
Every law enforcement K-9 needs a human partner, of course. For Waldo, it’s Deputy Jacob Swaggerty, who never envisioned himself having his current job duties.
“There are two things I said I would never be in law enforcement,” Swaggerty said. “One of them was a K-9 handler. The other was a school resource deputy.
“Now, I love being both.”
When Swaggerty was approached about being the handler for the new K-9 the office was receiving, he was hesitant to say yes, citing the commitment involved. He and his wife, Abby, were renting at the time, but had plans on buying a home. Plus, they wanted to start a family.
“It takes a lot of time,” Swaggerty said in regard to having a K-9 partner.
Brad Smith, who was once a K-9 handler, said, “It’s a lot more work and responsibility than you can ever imagine. When I went into it, I didn’t realize what it actually took to be a productive team. That’s exactly what it is. Both dog and handler have to work together.
“You end up spending more time with each other than you do with your own family.”
After thinking about it for a couple of days, Swaggerty (who now owns a home and now has a baby daughter, Kingslee, who was born on Oct. 21) agreed to become Waldo’s partner. He reflected upon talks he had with other K-9 handlers, who told him how special the bond is between a deputy and his furry partner.
Swaggerty went from being hesitant to being eager to have Waldo at his side. Every time Waldo’s trainer would text him photos, Swaggerty thought, “Man, I’m ready to go get him.”
Tennessee training
Waldo was imported from Hungary. He was at Southern Coast Kennels in Daytona before Pollock obtained him and sent him to Loudon, Tennessee, where he trained with Mike Lilley.
“They had him anywhere from eight months to a year, training him,” Swaggerty said, adding that Waldo received well over 2,000 hours of training.
Swaggerty spent two weeks at the Tennessee training facility so he could work with Waldo before bringing him to Bradford County.
“We trained for 13, 14 hours a day,” Swaggerty said.
He remembers walking to the kennels and seeing Waldo for the first time in person.
“As soon as I rounded the corner, he sat up, and his ears perked up,” Swaggerty said. “He looked at me for a second. I looked at him. I was like, ‘I guess this is it. It’s me and you.’”
For the first three or four days, Swaggerty mainly did a lot of listening and observing before taking leash in hand and working with Waldo. Swaggerty laughed and said Waldo tried to “bully me around” the first couple of days. As he put it, Waldo went from having a professional trainer handling him to someone “who has no idea what he’s doing.”
Over time, Swaggerty had an idea of what he was doing, and the relationship between him and Waldo began developing.
“You could feel the bond starting to grow,” he said.
The bond is such now that Swaggerty can look at Waldo and know what his demeanor is.
“I can tell when he’s having a bad day, or when he’s going to have a bad day, just by the way he gets in the truck in the morning,” Swaggerty said.
Brad Smith said dogs are just like people in that regard.
“They can wake up and just not be feeling 100 percent that day,” Smith said. “As the handler, you have to be the one who understands that and gives the dog the attention he needs on any particular day.”
It’s pretty easy to figure out if Waldo’s having the opposite of a bad day.
“If he’s jumping around and throwing his toy around in the kennel when I’m walking out there, then I’m like, ‘All right. It’s probably going to be a good day,’” Swaggerty said.
Work and rewards
If Swaggerty’s wearing his uniform, Waldo knows that he’s going to work that day. Swaggerty conducts traffic enforcement in school zones in the mornings. When that’s over, he’ll give Waldo some time to exit the vehicle and be active.
“Normally, we’re done probably about 8:45 to 9,” Swaggerty said. “He knows he gets to go to the softball fields and run around and burn off some energy.”
Swaggerty said he has a “no-schedule schedule.” He’s not assigned to one school, but works throughout the entire district, so he’ll make a decision on which school or schools he wants to visit during a certain day.
Waldo usually stays in the vehicle if Swaggerty goes to an elementary school, though he will take Waldo out every now and then so the children can get a look at him. If Swaggerty goes to Bradford High School, he and Waldo will search two or three classrooms. A classroom search takes only 30-45 seconds.
Swaggerty first witnessed Waldo’s skills while in Tennessee. The training facility has an auditorium the dogs and their handlers can search, with an item planted for the dog to find. Swaggerty said a gun was planted in the middle of the auditorium during one exercise.
“We walked down the first aisle,” Swaggerty said. “I let him get his first pass and sniff around. We were coming back up when he had a change in behavior.”
It’s that change in behavior handlers are looking for. That lets them know that the dog has sensed that something’s different from the rest of the surroundings.
“The handler has to understand the dog’s personality, understand his mannerisms,” Brad Smith said, adding, “If the handler’s not aware of what the dog’s trying to indicate, the whole system breaks down.”
Dogs are rewarded when they make a find. Therefore, it’s important that they do in fact find something on searches every so often. Swaggerty said dogs can give false alerts to fool their handlers into rewarding them if they go a long period without a legitimate alert. That’s why Swaggerty, when he searches classrooms, will plant something at times for Waldo to find, just so he experiences success.
Waldo’s preferred reward isn’t something to eat.
“He doesn’t get a lot of treats just for the simple fact that he’s very toy driven,” Swaggerty said. “I could have a treat in one hand and his toy in the other hand. He will go for his toy all day long.”
Not that Waldo doesn’t mind a tasty snack now and then. Swaggerty said Waldo likes McDonald’s cheeseburgers. He then laughed and said, “But don’t tell the sheriff that.”
The best-case scenario would be that everything Waldo alerts on was simply planted by Swaggerty as a means of rewarding him. After all, none of us want to think of children in a dangerous situation while at school.
Swaggerty said there’s probably a one in 10 chance that he and Waldo ever come across something in a school, but what would happen if Waldo wasn’t there to find something?
“We’d rather have him and not need him than to need him and not have him,” Brad Smith said.
The community seems to enjoy having Waldo in its schools. Waldo had his photo taken on school picture day. The photo was shared on Facebook by Swaggerty, the Bradford County Sheriff’s Office and the Bradford County School District, generating a total of 1,559 “likes” and 147 comments.
“The community ate it up,” Swaggerty said.
Waldo may look as if he posed on command in the photo, but Swaggerty said getting the picture took him and the photographer about 15 minutes. Swaggerty captured Waldo’s attention by holding his toy, which he threw as soon as the photo was taken.
“He about tore the backdrop down,” Swaggerty said.
The future
How long do K-9 officers typically last on the job? Swaggerty said it depends on the dog’s skill set, explaining that dogs used for apprehending people, for example, retire earlier than other dogs because of their training and what they endure physically.
Dogs like Waldo can work pretty much until they begin having health issues, Swaggerty said.
When Waldo’s done with his law-enforcement career, Swaggerty said he won’t want to partner with another dog.
“I know I’m one and done,” he said.
That’s not because of the experience he’s had with Waldo, which he has enjoyed and still enjoys.
“Waldo has made a really big impact on me just for the simple fact I didn’t want a dog,” Swaggerty said. “I never saw myself as a K-9 handler. I still don’t see myself as a K-9 handler. The dog is a tool, and I’m just the guy holding the rope. The dog knows what to do.”
Swaggerty may downplay his role in his relationship with Waldo, but the sheriff obviously saw something in him to make him think he’d be good with a K-9. It’s just like when Sheriff Smith saw Swaggerty as an ideal deputy to place in the school system.
“He is good with people,” Smith said of Swaggerty. “Good people skills and good with teenagers and the younger population. We thought he might be a fit. At first, he was not sure that’s what he wanted to do, but once we put him in there in a temporary spot, he came back and said, ‘This is what I’d like to do.’ He fell in love.”
Waldo apparently fell in love, too, but Swaggerty said that’s to be expected.
“He’s very protective of me,” he said. “He’s not trained to do that, but that’s typical with any dog. They’re going to get protective of their person.”
Most likely there’s a lot of truth in that, but it’s also clear to Sheriff Smith that Swaggerty possesses something that makes him a good K-9 handler. In fact, Swaggerty has shown a willingness to tackle any area he’s worked in at the sheriff’s office — on the road, at the jail, in communications and now in the schools, partnered with a K-9.
“He’s worked his way through all the ranks as a young man. He’s worked through all aspects of law enforcement and then found a niche,” Sheriff Smith said, adding, “Jacob’s just been one of those natural fits wherever we put him. He adjusts and does what’s asked of him.”
And if Waldo could ask Swaggerty something, it’d be to give him his toy to play with. In fact, Swaggerty said when Waldo’s not on the job, he’s pretty much a “goofball.”
“He’ll take his rope toy, and he’ll sling it up in the air and try to catch it,” Swaggerty said. “If he’s getting into something he’s not supposed to, I can call his name once, and he’ll act like he wasn’t even doing it. He’ll run completely away from (what he was doing).
“Anybody who sees him outside of being at work says he’s a totally different dog.”
