Reporting for duty: K-9 Ory joins Wayne County Sheriff's Office
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on April 25, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Cpl. Doug Honeycutt smiles as K-9 Ory rubs his head against him as they pose for a photo at the Wayne County Sheriff's Annex Friday. Ory is Honeycutt's first K-9 partner, something he said was on his law enforcement bucket list.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
The newest member of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office ACE Team, K-9 Ory, stands next to Cpl. Doug Honeycutt.
The Wayne County Sheriff's Office has a new employee -- though, he might be a little furrier than the rest.
Ory, a 2-year-old German shepherd Belgian-malinois mix, began working with Cpl. Doug Honeycutt on the sheriff's office K-9 unit this month.
The new addition to the K-9 unit was made possible through donations from the community and local businesses.
Honeycutt, 54, said he will be working with the sheriff's office ACE team, utilizing Ory's patrol training of drug searches, article searches and tracking.
Honeycutt trained with Ory for five weeks before Ory came on full time at the sheriff's office. Ory's name means "my light" in Hebrew.
"I told everybody that it reminded me of being back in boot camp with an infant in my rucksack," Honeycutt said of his training with Ory. "It was very stressful, challenging -- it was a lot more than what I thought it was going to be, but we both adapted and overcome it."
Ory is the sheriff's office first "passive" alert dog, as opposed to an "aggressive" alert dog. This means whenever Ory sniffs out drugs or tracks someone down, he'll simply put his nose on the target or sit by the target instead of loudly barking to alert the deputies.
This is the first time Honeycutt has ever worked on a K-9 unit -- an item he said was on his law enforcement bucket list. The only thing left on his bucket list after a decade in law enforcement is to work investigations, which he expects to do when he is a little older than he is now.
He was selected to work on the K-9 unit after volunteering for the position approximately two years ago.
Ory lives with Honeycutt around the clock, and Honeycutt is Ory's caretaker. The two never leave each other's side.
"It's a great tool for us for vehicle searches," Honeycutt said.
New state laws dictate that K-9 units can no longer be called to a traffic stop after the stop is completed, and the stop cannot be delayed in order to call a K-9 unit. Therefore, Honeycutt and his fellow ACE team K-9 unit members will patrol around the clock and head toward traffic stops immediately if they are called in.
"The time factor is a big issue," Honeycutt said. "We're a four man team, and we all work together, so we'll be in the same general area working, so once a vehicle is stopped I can be right there on top of it with the ability to get Ory out and do a vehicle sniff at that time."
Honeycutt said he and Ory are still in the process of bonding, a process which can take anywhere from eight to 12 months. He knows the job will be difficult, but said he is ready for the challenge.
"I'm looking forward to working with the dog, being successful -- the dog is fully trained and was fully trained when I got him," Honeycutt said. "The dog is first class, I've got to get there. This is my first K-9. I'm no spring chicken, I'm 54 years old, so you've got to teach this old dog new tricks here. But I'm willing and wanting to learn to read the dog and understand the dog, and that's going to come with time."