New K9 Training Facility Open

The new K9 facility has 12 kennels and an acre of fenced-in land to train police dogs.

Police dogs in Nebraska initially do 13 weeks of training in Grand Island, but the dogs still need to be trained every week. 

Captain Danny Reitan said, “In their career as a service dog team, they are continuing to build on those skills, and become more proficient at the work, and that’s the training that they do every week is working on that proficiency training, introducing news tasks, new ways for them to operate as a team.”

The facility is in northwest Lincoln. Captain Reitan says having a more secure environment to conduct some of the training removes distraction, but dogs will still need to be trained within the public. 

He said, “We do still have to go out to the community to do some training because we do have to provide some variety to the dogs during the training process. If they see the same place over and over again they kind of figure out what the game is because dogs are smart.”

The Lincoln Police Department runs five police K9 teams, and the sheriff’s office has three teams. 

They’re hoping with the new facility it brings more people in to train their dogs too.