My photos from the Police Open House

Last Saturday I went to the The Public Safety Headquarters Open House.  The 1st District Police Station, which covers Potomac, North Potomac, Darnestown, and Rockville had recently moved to the new Public Safety Headquarters....a spacious building in the Kentlands next to a nice lake.  The Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Services, and the office of Homeland Security moved there too and were part of the Open House.  They had great demos and opportunities to see up close public safety cars, motorcycles, helicopters, K9, and mounted park police. What a fun, informative, community event!

The Montgomery County Humane Society was invited and they invited me.  I love getting invitations!  And it seemed like it would be a beautiful day to get outside.  I got dressed and ready to go by putting on my blue Freedom Harness and Lime green "Adopt Me" bandana.  Driving there, I relaxed in the car.  Once our car started slowing down, I looked around and realized I was in a part of Gaithersburg I had never visited before.  That meant new sights!  New smells!  Wanting me to be as relaxed as possible with what could potentially be an overwhelming experience, I was able to freely sniff along the way.  My favorite spot to sniff was definitely the Park Police Horse Trailer.  The trailer had already been unload but still lots of good sniffs as we walked down Main Street, headed to 100 Edison Park Drive.

The first thing we saw was the Police K-9 demonstration.  I can be dog reactive at times so we watched from a distance.  We saw a German Shepherd jump up and over a 3 foot high white fence.  Wow!  Looked like fun!  We heard the handler say that the dogs often needed to clear fences and sometimes walls!  The first time the K9 tried to climb up this tall white wall he faltered.  But given a second chance he scurried up this white wall and continued over the top.  Lots of applause from the crowd!

Training isn't just for expert K9 dogs. One PetFinder survey showed that over 90% of dogs ending up in the shelter had no obedience training. That was the case for me but now I've learned 10+ commands and cues as well as some fun tricks.  Applause for all the people who shared stories of obedience training with me!  And taking it to higher levels, I was all ears to hear about Schutzhund training. 3 components are tracking, obedience, and protection.

Christian was the first kid I met.  In the nicest voice he said "Can I pet your dog?"  My foster mom asked me to lay down and she told Christian he could pet me "from the shoulders down".  He gave me a really nice belly rub.  Another girl came up and asked to pet me and my foster mom asked if she could wait behind Christian.  She explained that especially at big events it was good to give dogs some space and not crowd...one at a time is better.

Throughout the day over 30 kids came to greet me.  What a great group of kids!  They all asked first if they could pet me, patiently waited when needed, and if one hoovered over my face, they listened really well when my foster mom asked them to move to my side and pet me on either my back or belly.  Good job kids!  Now the parents on the other hand...or should I say some of the moms.  Tip for Humans:  If you are at a big event with a bunch of little kids all eating cones of cotton candy, don't say 'go pet the doggie!'  The kids were all great listeners so it wasn't a problem.  If my foster mom said "not now because you have food, but you can still talk to Debbie"  they told me nice words that seemed sweeter than cotton candy.