EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

NORTH ANDOVER - At the ripe old age of almost nine - that's 63 in dog years - Iris has retired from the North Andover Police Department.

The black Labrador retriever was a pioneer in her work on explosives detection, traveling the country to events such as the Olympics in Utah, the Super Bowl and the 2004 Democratic National Convention.

She also worked through national tragedies, starting in the business soon after the school shootings at Columbine in 1999 and helping to search federal buildings in Boston after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Her handler, Officer William Brush, said Iris didn't always distinguish between work and play.

"Finding explosives is one big game to her," he said. "Food is the reward."

Iris has now stepped aside for Brush's new partner, Julie, who trained with Brush last month and is now on the job.

Brush said Iris has adjusted well. She was never one to bound to the car for a day's work anyway, sleeping until the last possible moment.

The biggest adjustment for Iris has been eating food out of a bowl, no strings attached. The dogs are trained to eat only when they find explosives, meaning if the dog doesn't have an actual assignment that day, Brush will hide something for training.

Even though Iris is off the beat, she is still shy about taking her food without earning it.

"I'll put the food down and she just looks at me and wags her tail," Brush said. "If she needs a little encouragement, I let her sniff fireworks."

The department has two K-9 dogs. One is Kyzer, a German shepherd, who is trained in protection, patrol work, and tracking and apprehending suspects.

Iris and Julie, on the other hand, are black Labrador retrievers trained in explosives detection. Black Labs are used because they are friendly, since they are often in crowded places and around people. They also are notoriously food-driven in their actions, and eager to please.

Brush said he was always interested in K-9 work, but the department already had a K-9 dog when he joined.

After the shooting at Columbine High School, when school violence became a national issue, Brush was interested in working in explosives detection and worked with the chief to bring an explosives detection dog to North Andover.

At the time, there were 32 dogs doing the work in the United States. There are now 120.

The dogs and training are provided by the federal government's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The department has a budget of about $800 per year for each dog for veterinarian visits and kenneling, but the food is donated by Sea World Pet Center in New Hampshire. The department has two Dodge Magnums as the K-9 cars. The cars cost $23,000, which is $1,000 more than the typical Crown Victorias the rest of the department uses, but police Chief Richard Stanley said the Magnums get better mileage.

A lot of the work the dogs do is responding to school bomb threats, especially this time of year.

"It starts around March and goes right through May," he said.

Stanley said Brush and Iris have been a "feather in the cap" for North Andover by representing the department in other towns and even other states in addition to doing regular patrols in town. As terrorism has become more prevalent, the need for explosives detection also has been more in demand.

"We didn't know exactly how it was going to take off at first. We didn't know what would happen with terrorism," Stanley said. "We have found he is so valuable that we are receiving phone calls from different municipalities to assist with serious situations and active threats."

Brush said working in explosives detection is different than other work. If a narcotics dog doesn't find a bag of marijuana, it's not quite as serious as an explosives dog who fails to find the bomb, he said.

Explosives detection dogs are not allowed to work past 9 years old.

Brush said the dogs sometimes retire earlier because they develop cancer after so much time around explosives, or they develop a fear of noises.

Iris has been working for seven years and will be 9 in September. She was deployed 148 times, about once every 18 days.

But she is still full of energy. She bounded into the station last week to greetings of "Hi, Iris," from the other officers.

Now, she is just a pet in Brush's home, where she has lived since they started working together.

Julie has taken over Iris' role at the station. Because the program is better established, Julie is better trained than Iris was when she started, said Brush. She has already found shell casings from a gun at a crime scene.

Brush joked that Julie is on parole - she is the graduate of a prison puppy program known as Puppies Behind Bars in which prisoners raise the dogs.

"Hopefully, I will get another seven years with her," Brush said.

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Kyzer back on the job

Police dog Kyzer is back doing K-9 work for the North Andover Police Department after a suspension for biting one of the North Andover police dispatchers on May 4.

"We had an investigation and spoke with his trainers at the Boston Police Department. We are going to make a couple of changes," said Lt. John Carney. "There was no wrongdoing, just a series of events that were unfortunate."

Acting Sgt. Chuck Gray, Kyzer's handler, was in the police station parking lot with Kyzer when the German shepherd ran over to dispatcher Nathan Kenney and bit him on the right arm.

Kenney was treated at Lawrence General Hospital for a minor bite and released.

Carney said he is confident that Kyzer can safely do the job. Kyzer returned to work on May 22.

Box:

K-9 dogs in the area:

Town%Number of Dogs% Type of Dog%Duty

Andover%1%German shepherd%Tracking/drug detection

Haverhill%0

Lawrence%1German shepherd%Tracking

Methuen%3%German shepherd%Tracking

German shepherd%Not available

Bloodhound%Tracking

North Andover%2%German shepherd%Tracking

Black Labrador%explosives detection