Los Gatos police add second K-9 unit
By Gloria I. Wang
"I've always wanted to be a K-9 officer, ever since I was a kid," said officer Erin Lunsford of the Los Gatos-Monte Sereno Police Department. "But I liked this department so much that I put it on hold for a while."
Lunsford, 32, finally realized his dream last month, as he became the handler for Eddy von Pinienwald, the department's second K-9 unit. Lunsford was a reserve officer for the police department for four years and became a full-time officer three and a half years ago.
Like Quarz, the department's first police dog, Eddy is a purebred German shepherd and is 20 months old. At 68 pounds, he still has a way to go before he reaches his adult weight of 75 to 85 pounds. According to Lunsford, "von Pinienwald" means "pine forest" and refers to the region of Germany that Eddy is from.
Witmer-Tyson Imports, a Menlo Park-based dog training and sales company, purchased Eddy and brought him over from Germany earlier this year.
Lunsford started a four-week dog handler training course on June 4 with another dog that "wasn't working out"; he exchanged the first dog for Eddy on June 7. "He was a little leery of me the first week," Lunsford said. "[But] within two days, he was my dog." On June 29, they finished the course and began working as partners the next week.
Eddy lives with Lunsford's family, where he stays in an outside kennel. Lunsford is responsible for cleaning, feeding and cleaning up after Eddy. "It takes more time than I thought it would," Lunsford said.
Lunsford's two small children are only permitted to play with Eddy if Lunsford is around. The reasoning, Lunsford said, is that Eddy must learn that Lunsford is in charge and rely on Lunsford to tell him when it's OK to play and when it's time to work. The dog is not allowed to play with balls so that, when Lunsford and Eddy are at a crime scene, Eddy won't be distracted by balls that might be lying around.
Eddy and Lunsford work a "modified swing shift," from 5 p.m. to 3 a.m., four times a week. In addition, Lunsford does obedience training with Eddy once a week and they attend scheduled maintenance training with other departments' K-9 units twice a month.
So far, Lunsford said, the pair have done mostly searching and alarm calls. Once, Campbell police called on Eddy in an unsuccessful attempt to track down an car thief.
In December, Los Gatos couple Steve and Jeanne Lyon donated $20,000 for the purchase of a second police dog, after they read about Quarz in the November 15 issue of the Los Gatos Weekly-Times. Together with money from the Los Gatos Police Foundation, a total of $50,000 was raised, which enabled the department to buy a dog from Witmer-Tyson.
The department started accepting applications for dog handler in November; in January, the interviews began, first with Witmer-Tyson, then with Police Chief Larry Todd. "Erin was, throughout the process, the number one candidate," Todd said.
Officer Sam Wonnell, and his partner Quarz, were moved from the swing shift to the day watch in order to make room for Lunsford and Eddy. The department's goal, Todd said, is to acquire a third K-9 unit to cover all three shifts. Funding for the third K-9 unit will come from various institutions and through donations from the public to the police foundation.
The $50,000 for the acquisition of Eddy also included the purchase of a specially equipped police car, similar to Wonnell's vehicle. According to Todd, the car will have a platform for Eddy instead of backseats, modified air-conditioning vents, a cage in the back, as well as a remote on Lunsford's utility belt that will open the windows and doors to the car, allowing Eddy to get out.
The presence of a police dog apparently has the desired effect. When Quarz has confronted a suspect, nine times out of 10 the suspect followed the commands of the officer and didn't resist, Todd said.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
