POCATELLO — On a late September morning, Syd Seamons geared up in a bite suit and got a taste of what was to come for the next year when his roughly 60-pound Belgian Malinois launched at his arm with a mouth full of teeth.

Seamons and Bruce, his K-9 companion, were practicing canine apprehension at a local park, which teaches both handler and dog how to properly apprehend a criminal suspect. It was the start of 400 hours of training the duo will put in to become a certified K-9 team with the Pocatello Police Department.

“I am absolutely excited for this,” said Cpl. Seamons, who has been with the department for 12 years and was on the special weapons and tactics team for 10. “SWAT was my whole reason I’m in the department and I was willing to give that up to come do this. That’s the excitement and drive we have for this.”

In addition to Seamons and Bruce, there are three other PPD K-9 teams that are currently undertaking 400 hours of training to become certified. Officer Tyler Anderson and Flip, his 2-year-old Belgian Malinois companion, are also the department’s newest K-9 team. The pair started training in late September along with Seamons and Bruce.

The other two K-9 teams currently training for their apprehension certification include officer Francisco Torres and Thor, who have been a team for one year, and officer Bridget McArthur and Lobo, who joined forces in February.

Sgt. Matthew Shutes, who supervises the K-9 unit, explained that the teams dedicate 160 hours toward scent training, with the remaining 240 hours committed toward apprehension.

“Really all that training is for the handler,” said Shutes. “We could train a dog to find something in a few days.”

Shutes explained The PPD usually operates with six dogs, with two who specialize in bomb detection and four trained for dual purpose where they tackle drug detection and apprehension. His own canine companion, 10-year-old Nero, will be retiring soon when Seamons’ and Anderson’s teams complete their narcotics training.

The commitment it takes to being a K-9 handler goes beyond a 9 to 5 job, explained Torres. He transferred from the Power County Sheriff’s Office two years ago to get the opportunity to become a handler. He got that chance when he received Thor last year.

“You spend so much time with these dogs,” Torres said. “And if you do bare minimum training, you’re going to have a bare minimum dog. That’s how they put it. So on my days off, I work with my dog. At the end of the day I want to be that K-9 handler that not just the Pocatello PD guys need, but … all the surrounding agencies. … It’s a really good feeling to be wanted for how much work you put into it.”

McArthur echoed this sentiment.

“(Your dog) is not only an asset to you, but your whole department and your team,” she said. “So it’s nice to have that tool that other people can use and rely on as well.”

Another quality that handlers must have is the dedication to forge and maintain a strong bond with their dog. For Anderson, that means matching his dog’s drive to put in the work — or play, as he explains Flip views it.

“It’s just fun for him, he’s super jacked all the time,” Anderson said. “Just with the month that I’ve had Flip, every time we walk by the patrol car he gets super stoked. Because he knows he’s going to do something other than hang out in the backyard. This is their life and you have to have that same drive, that same joy, to go to work.”

This special bond was one of the deciding influences that gave Seamons the nudge to pursue a handler position. After seeing the senior handlers work with their own canines, he wanted the challenge of working with his own dog and the different dynamics it would lend to his skillset.

“I watched the senior handlers, particularly Matt (Shutes) and Shane Jones and Akilah (Lacey) and Sean Peterson, and I watched the relationship they built with their dogs,” he said. “That honestly is one of the biggest reasons I decided to do it, because of conversations with them, and the bonds they built, and what they experienced while working with dogs.”