By KEVIN CHIRI

Editor and Publisher

LAPLACE – St. John Sheriff’s Office K-9 handler Monty Adams returned from the national K-9 narcotics dog competition recently by placing 15th out of 160 entries in the rigorous testing for police dogs.

Officer Adams, who handles a chocolate Lab named “Scoobie,” had to put his police dog through a series of tests.

The competition involves the dogs going through a series of tests to find as many drugs as possible in just two minutes, as they are hidden in various places. Scoobie had enough drug finds to rank among the best narcotics K-9 dogs in the nation.

Scoobie, who took first at this national competition just several years ago, again had one of the best performances in the nation as he was 15th out of the 160 dogs in the competition.

The event, for members of the National Narcotics Detective Dogs Association (NNDDA) was held in Jackson, Ms., and also had three other St. John dogs and their handlers in the competition.

They were Sgt. Brian Bertrand and “Jango,” Capt. Chuck Bazile and “Glenn,” and Officer Steve Amador and “Lion.”