SIOUX CITY, Iowa (Iowa Media Wire) — To mark the end of this year’s Leeds Day activities, more than a dozen people gathered around Leeds Park to see what the Sioux City Police Department’s K-9s can do.
Officer Luke Petersen brought out his 3-year-old dog named Bow and demonstrated a drug search by placing a bag of meth in a bag. After doing this, the dog found it immediately, indicating to its partner he found something. The handler also showed off Bow’s bite strength on himself and a volunteer.
Barry Bohlke, with the Leeds Community Club, has put on the brace multiple times but said that this time was different.
“I was nervous the first time. This time, with the intensity of the dog that made it, yeah, he wanted to bite me. It hurt. It hurt. It was intense. Like the officer said, I needed to rotate my wrist flat because it felt like if I had it the other way, I would have broke something,” Bohlke said.
Bohlke compared the experience to slamming his arm in a car door and holding it there.
Officer Petersen said the whole point of the demonstration was to show how well-trained police dogs are.
“Everybody thinks dogs, they’re crazy, they’re out the bite. No, it’s a controlled thing. Everything’s very controlled and trained well and we put a lot of work in our dogs, and we like to really show off, say, hey, this is what we can and can’t do. And this is what they’re used for and how active they truly are,” said Officer Petersen.
This was the fourth year Leeds Day officials set up the demonstration, and Bohlke said it was their biggest turnout so far.