By ROBIN SHANNON
L’Observateur

LAPLACE — Make no bones about it, if there are concealed drugs inside a car, home or business in St. John Parish the K9 unit for the Sheriff’s Office narcotics division will sniff it out — they have the awards to prove it.

In a national competition held late last month, narcotics Detective Monty Adams and his canine companion Scoobi, a chocolate lab, took first place among 150 teams competing in the National Narcotic Detector Dog Association training conference in Corpus Christi, Tex. It was the second national championship for the drug sniffing team.

“When we won back in 2006, I had just started working with Scoobi in the narcotics division,” said Adams. “The guys chalked that win up to beginners luck, so when I came back with this win, I asked them all what it means to win twice? We must be doing something right.”

In addition to the top law enforcement awards, Adams and Scoobi, who is 11, won best K9 over five-years-old and also placed second in the team competition with Adams’ commander, Maj. Chuck Bazile, and his German Shepherd Glenn

In a three-minute search of a field littered with file cabinets, footlockers, cars and anything else that could conceal drugs, Adams said Scoobi was able to sniff out 11 of the 15 planted targets contained in the search area, which, Adams estimated, was about the size of a basketball court. Adams said his efficiency boils down to a successful search pattern.

“They give you time to scope out the test area,” Adams said. “It all comes down to determining which stations would most likely contain the targets. But you also have to keep the dog moving. When he gets the scent he’s going to keep after it until he gets it.”

Adams said drug-sniffing dogs react in different ways when detecting narcotics in an area. He said some will stay still, while others will sit down near where the drugs are hidden. He describes Scoobi as an “aggressive alert” dog.

“When he gets the scent, he will scratch and claw and dig at the area until he finds it,” said Adams. “When he is on a leash, he will drag you behind him to the source of the hidden drugs.”

Adams said when Scoobi began as a K9 drug sniffer in 1998, the dog’s training regimen centered around a thick rubber ball that would get hidden with the particular drug being trained on.

“His goal is to go after and get that ball,” said Adams. “He associates the scent of the drugs with the ball. When we are out on a search and he gets the scent, he will continue to scratch because he wants to find that ball.”

Even at the somewhat elderly age of 11, Adams said Scoobi is showing no signs of slowing down. He said he could probably see him continue on the job for another few years.

“He’s strictly a drug sniffer and is not doing anything that is incredibly strenuous,” Adams said. “I think he’s still got some time left.”