[media-credit name=’BRYAN FAUST/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Of the many officers working for the Madison Police Department, some of its most important employees walk on four legs and enjoy an occasional doggy treat.

The Madison Police Department's K-9 Unit, though relatively young, is an important division of the department, as four canines owned by the city work daily with police officers in investigations.

"It's an excellent resource to have a K-9 unit," MPD Lt. David Jugovich said. "It's valuable to assist patrol officers with dangerous tasks."

Sgt. Chris Boyd, who supervises the unit, said the two- and three-year-old canines are dual-purpose dogs, who work with three unit officers in detecting narcotics and have patrol functions, such as evidence searches, protection and building investigations.

According to Boyd, the police department needed canines for officer safety.

"It makes it safer for officers that work on the street, and it makes it safer for citizens," she said. "The handlers are getting enough calls from patrol to keep them busy."

An advantage in using dogs is more cooperation from criminals, Boyd added.

"Criminals are very nervous about dogs," she said. "What we found was often, when the dog was there, people are less likely to run, less likely to fight."

Additionally, the dogs are a useful resource when police do not have the information to continue investigations.

Boyd cited a recent incident about six months ago where one of the canines located drugs in a hotel room, allowing police to search the room and arrest two of Madison's lead drug dealers.

"The dogs are incredible in the things they can find with their nose," she said. "It's just amazing the type of information they can give us that we wouldn't be able to get otherwise."

Most of the dogs are from outside the United States, Boyd said, because the breeding resources in other countries allow the department to receive adult canines ready for police training.

"They have the numbers over there and they train dogs that are well-suited for police work," she said.

While the canines come to the unit pre-trained, the dogs and the officers endure an initial four-week training period together, and while employed, train two days every month.

But the dogs, who live with their respective police officers, are expected to go through training exercises with their officer every day.

The K-9 Unit began two years ago, as the police department did not originally have the funding to support a unit and had to use the Dane County Sheriff's K-9 Unit.

"What happened with using the county's dogs is, a lot of the time, they didn't have dogs available; and for some years, they didn't have dogs that could work at night," Boyd said. "But the sticking point was the funding and not having enough money to do it."

After researching K-9 unit funding for similar-sized cities, the department received assistance from Capital K-9's, a non-profit organization.

"The program wouldn't be in existence today if it wasn't for Capital K9's," Boyd added. "They fund the dog, the training, the equipment and even the cars. … They are almost solely supporting the K9 Unit."

Having the K9 Unit has certainly helped the police department, according to Jugovich.

"We're no longer having to rely on outside jurisdiction, so it's nice to use our own unit," he said.

Boyd added the canines are "wonderful" to be around.

"They're not ferocious animals that are out of control," she said. "They're very well trained, very well controlled by their handlers and very friendly when they're not working."