Photo by Joselyn King New Wheeling Police Department K-9 Unit Geist takes a break during his presentation to the community on the lawn outside of the police station on Thursday.

WHEELING – Wheeling’s newest police officer comes from Germany, has his own passport, understands German commands and has an aggressive streak that leads him to sometimes bite his partner.

The Wheeling Police Department formally introduced K-9 unit Geist to the community on Thursday. The 2-year-old Dutch shepherd is trained in narcotics detection and suspect tracking and apprehension. His handler is Officer Patrick Ryan.

Ryan noted Geist “is not a pet. He is a tool.” As such, he resides in the basement at Ryan’s home and has his own kennel there. He doesn’t associate with Ryan’s wife, 5-year-old child or the family’s dog.

“He will bite. Ask me how I know,” Ryan said. “He does that because he has what they call a ‘high prey drive.’ That’s what you want in a dog like this.”

Geist came to America from Germany, and he and Ryan trained for eight weeks together at Merry K-9 Services in Norwich, Ohio. While there they worked on obedience, commands (which are spoken in German), apprehension techniques and narcotics detection scenarios.

Ryan said he was most surprised by how quickly Geist learns.

“He gets a ball when he does what he is supposed to do,” Ryan continued. “It’s his reward for finding drugs, finding discarded articles, tracking a suspect or apprehending a suspect.”

Geist joins two other K-9 units with the Wheeling Police Department. Virgil also is trained in narcotics detection and suspect apprehension, while Ozzie’s specialty is explosives detection.

Ozzie’s handler is Cpl. Jason Martin, who also serves as K-9 unit team leader. He explained you never really know if a dog is going to be successful as a K-9 officer until it finishes training.

“You look for a dog that has high drives in terms of prey,” he said. “In terms of detection work, they don’t know what it is they are finding. They don’t know it’s drugs. They’ve just been trained that that odor equals the certain reward they want – in this case a ball.

“He is driven to find that ball. To get that end result, to get that ball, he is finding drugs.”

When he is distracted by something from getting that ball, that is when he gets angry and bites.

“He is young. He gets frustrated…. He is just a kid not getting his way and he throws a tantrum,” Martin explained. “He’ll learn through time and corrections that is not the way and he’ll get a different outlet for that kind of behavior.”

Most dogs are able to work as K-9 officers as long as their health remains good, and that is typically eight to 10 years, according to Martin.

Geist is the first department K-9 to be named by area residents through a social media contest hosted by the department. The name “Geist” is German for “ghost.” German commands are commonly used by K-9 units worldwide.

Geist was purchased with funding from the Stanton K-9 Foundation and the City of Wheeling.