Brownwood Fire Marshal Buddy Preston trains with Nika, Brownwood’s recently acquired arson dog, each day; several times to be more accurate.  These training sessions are about 10-15 minutes, 3-5 times a day depending on what training she is doing.

Pictured in the video below, Preston takes Nika into the Brownwood Law Enforcement Center training room and has her sniff out sites where he secretly dropped training fluid.

 

“Nika is a smart girl,” stated Preston as he pointed out she never misses the sites.  In the video, Preston asks her to “seek” and then “where?” so she will show him exactly where.  Nika lies down and then points with her nose to where the site is, just as she would when searching during an arson investigation.

A grant applied for by the City of Brownwood in 2008 allowed Preston to secure an arson dog which will serve Brown County and the surrounding areas.  The grant paid for everything – travel expenses for both Preston and Nika, training, and more.  Local businesses have also donated to Nika’s care.  Ag Mart has donated food, electrolytes and vitamins and a kennel for Preston’s vehicle and Wal-Mart has donated gift cards.

Nika is a 21-month-old black Labrador retriever and was officially welcomed as a member of the Brownwood Fire Department by Fire Chief Del Albright and Fire Marshal Buddy Preston when she received her badge at the Brownwood city council meeting on Tuesday, September 13th.  She and her handler Preston completed four weeks of training on Friday at the State Farm Arson Dog Program in Alfred, Maine.

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