By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer PELHAM— Police and military K-9 units from all over the Southeast will participate in the Alabama Police and Military K-9 Conference Oct. 13-14 at the Pelham Civic Complex. Dozens of handlers and dogs will focus on scent, tracking and patrol training in this two-day event.

This is the second year the canine conference has been held in Pelham, and Pelham Police Sgt. Steve Johnson said he plans to continue the tradition.

“Everyone really liked it. They liked the concepts, and it was really well received,” Johnson said. “We’ve already set next year’s conference date. When this one finishes we will start on the next one. It’s a never ending thing.”

Belgian Malinois, German Shepherds and Labrador Retrievers will accompany their handlers for several classroom-style and hands-on learning experiences with world-class instructors.

Scent-focused dogs will familiarize themselves in drug or explosive related sessions, where handlers are also taught problem solving skills for those situations, according to Johnson. There are also sessions focused on tracking and apprehension.

Each session will be in a two-hour block, beginning at 8 a.m., so several classes will run and teams will rotate. The dogs can also participate in a helicopter demonstration where they are flown to Oak Mountain State Park to practice a takedown.

“The dogs love it because they’re competitive,” Johnson said. “When you get a group (of dogs) together, they know what’s going on and they all want look good. They get fired up just like we do. These kind of things revitalize the handlers and the dogs as well.”

The dogs will get to put their competitive nature to the test this year as well. New this year is a scent competition. There will be one for drugs and another for explosives, and Johnson said both the handler and the dog will be judged.

Training is key for these handlers and their dogs, according to Johnson, which is why this event is so important to the K-9 units. He said the conference receives great support because there wasn’t a lot of related training in this area.

Last year, there were 60 teams who participated in the conference. Johnson said it was much more than he had expected, but it was a great educational opportunity.

The whole event wouldn’t be possible without the group of volunteers who works to help Johnson put conference together. Johnson said each of the volunteers work with search and rescue dogs and help raise money to keep registration costs low.

“Training is key in every thing we do in law enforce especially with canines,” he said.  “You have to have the training to keep the dogs and handlers sharp.”

Registration is $25 per team. For more information, visit Apmk9.weebly.com.