Deputy Daisy is not only adorable, but will be an asset to Baker County Law Enforcement
By Shannon Weidemann (McKone) on Monday, February 27th, 2023 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER COUNTY – Baker County Sheriff’s Office’s newest member, Deputy Daisy, is making herself right at home and is already in work mode, learning new things every day. Deputy Chad Mills (CM), handler for Daisy and Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash (TA) spoke with Shannon McKone (SM) with Elkhorn Media Group and gave us an update on Daisy and what sort of things people can expect from her in the future.
(SM) Deputy Mills, you have had Daisy now at the Sheriff’s Office for a few weeks, can you tell me what sort of things you have been working with her on?
(CM) Right now we’re working on socializing. I have been taking her into schools, businesses, getting her used to people. All the major events that we have in the county she’ll make an appearance. We’re going to start working on tracking. That’s going to be her primary job, tracking people up in the mountains and working primarily search and rescue. And occasionally on the, in the patrol division if we need her.
I have connected with a Deschutes County Deputy and in April I am going to go down there and do some training with them. There are about six hound handlers in the state right now, so we are going to do a collective training and they’re going to help me get her started on tracking and we’re going to go from there.
(SM) What sort of things are involved in the training?
(CM) Most of it is just natural instinct, just like a bird dog. They have a natural ability to attract certain scents. So, getting them to recognize the scent before we start and then lay the scent trail and then follow that and then reward at the end and make it a game for them. It gives the dogs repetition on what their job is and just making it a game for them.
(SM) How old is Daisy right now?
(CM) She is 11 weeks old.
(SM) And can you remind me what breed she is?
(CM) She is a Blood Hound.
(SM) She will be based in Baker County, right? But what other regions will she work in besides Baker County?
(CM) She goes to work with me, she goes home with me and lives in my home. In the event that maybe a neighboring county needs agency assists, then we can go assist with that once she gets going and gets everything down.
(TA) Eastern Oregon Region One SAR (Search and Rescue is the 10 surrounding counties and she would be available once she’s up and running. She’d be available for any of those counties or anywhere in the state if she was needed.
(SM) How long does it usually take to get the dogs trained?
(CM) I have been told is about 10 to 11 weeks old is when you can start the training, so now. Then by around 10 months they are ready to be deployed.
(SM) How did Daisy end up becoming a member of the Baker County Sheriff’s Office?
(CM) She was donated to us.
(SM) But there will be some expenses that come with a new dog like this. Will the Sheriff’s Office be seeking any sort of donations or anything to help with those expenses?
(CM) Right now we are looking at food and vet bills, she is obviously a puppy, so she’s going through all her puppy shots and everything.
(TA) We’ve applied for some grants, but I expect, down the road in a few months, we will reach out to the public, ask for donations or solicit donations to help fund the program.
(SM) Anything else about Daisy or the program right now that you would like to mention?
(TA) The bond between Deputy Mills and Daisy is formed and I think we’re going to end up with a very good finished dog by the time he’s done.
(SM) I look forward to talking more about Deputy Daisy and her training in the future.
