By Joe Bachman

The Wood County Sheriff’s Department welcomed a new member to the team last week; a 1-year-old German Shepherd mix K-9 named Ace.

Fresh off six weeks of training at Vohne Liche Kennels in Denver, Ind., Ace will be the second K-9 serving the Wood County Sheriff’s Department, and there is excitement surrounding the new addition to the force. Deputy and handler, Brandon Christianson, is excited for his new partner, and how he’ll serve the community.

“He’s a dual purpose dog — he does detection, and he was trained in the four major groups of drugs; heroin, meth, cocaine and marijuana, and he also does tracking,” said Christianson. “He can do area searches, track missing people, suspects, and building searches.”

Ace is equipped with different collars that determine different situations, from casual to on duty. There is a separate collar used for obedience, a collar used for tracking, and a harness used specifically to search for people. Ace is active everyday with his new partner, but not just on duty. K-9’s travel home with their handler every night. According to Christianson, Ace is very relaxed when he’s home.

“When Ace is at home, that’s break time,” said Christianson. “When he’s at work, he’s standing at that door waiting to come out.”

Wood County Sheriff Thomas Reichert. (Contributed Photo)

According to Wood County Sheriff Thomas Reichert, The K-9 program has become an important part of what they do at the department.

“The K-9 program at the sheriff’s department has become a very big part of what we do, and I’m really pleased that we were able to secure funding that we could have a second K-9,” said Reichert. “The work that our K-9’s do really supplement the work that the deputy sheriffs do, and I’m looking forward to having a strong presence with our K-9 program in the future.”

According to Reichert, the K-9 program will be funded for generations to come through the Acacia Foundation of Central Wisconsin. The group is has taken over $30,000 in donations over the last three years.

Donations can be made by calling 715-423-0397.