K-9 Unit

Patrol Dogs

Police service dogs (K-9s) are used in law enforcement primarily for their superior scenting and locating abilities. Police K-9s' sense of smell and ability to recognize and respond to a wide variety of scents allow them to locate persons and contraband much more efficiently and effectively than humans. K-9s also allow the police department to resolve dangerous situations in a more safe and efficient manner. Each dog and officer team go through a specialized 16 weeks of patrol and narcotic training before working in the community.

Our dogs are used as locating tools and are trained to conduct building and large area searches for hidden criminals, tracking lost persons and criminals, article/evidence searches, and narcotics detection. The dogs are also featured at numerous community education functions and public canine agility demonstrations.

Wellness Dog

Serving the community as a police officer takes a toll. When you are with someone on their worst day, you need to be at your best. We understand that we need to take care of our public safety teams so they can take care of our community.

The idea of a wellness dog for Burnsville Police originated in 2019 by Detective Andrea Newton when therapy dogs began surfacing in police departments in southern states. City of Burnsville and the Burnsville Police Department are taking a number of proactive steps to take care of staff and the addition of Doc is one of many wellness initiatives.

Wellness Dog Doc and Detective Andrea Newton

Doc is a Whoodle, a soft-coated Wheaten Terrier/Poodle mix donated by Heart of America Whoodles (HOAW) located just outside of St. Louis, MO. Doc is working on her therapy dog certification to provide comfort and stress relief to our police officers and City of Burnsville staff. She’s easily everyone’s favorite visitor and puts smiles on every face she meets. She loves to play fetch with a tennis ball and adores the constant pets.

Critical Incident Response K-9 Duke and Sergeant Max Yakovlev

Duke serves as a Critical Incident Response K-9. He has the unique ability to help comfort those who have experienced a traumatic event, personal crisis or suffering with mental illness. He can sense how high or low an individual's cortisol levels are and provide support for overwhelming emotions. K-9 Duke joins Sergeant Max Yakovlev on the Behavioral Health Unit (BHU) and joined us from K9's for Freedom and Independence.