SIMI VALLEY : Young Police Pooch Shines in Competition

Simi Valley Police Officer Sterling Johnson arrived at this year’s World Police and Fire Games in Colorado Springs with a new canine partner named Charly and huge paws to fill.

Thankfully, Charly came through.

Johnson and his former partner, Atlas, had won the last two competitions--which are held each two years--in 1989 and 1991. With Atlas now in retirement, Johnson and Charly joined 45 other dogs and handlers from around the country and Canada for the three-day competition.

Unexpectedly, the pair came away with a bronze medal in the obedience and agility events and an even less likely fifth-place finish among the 19 teams competing in the narcotics detection events.

“Overall, he did just excellent,” Johnson said. “He’s only 4 years old and he’s competing against dogs that are between 7 and 9. . . . To be honest, I didn’t expect him to do as well as he did.”

And that praise comes from the handler of the only dog to ever win the overall canine championship twice.

“Although Atlas was Superdog, this dog has the potential to become better than Atlas was,” Johnson said. “He competed three years earlier than Atlas in the world games and that’s unheard of. I didn’t expect to come home with anything and we came home with two medals.”

Charly’s narcotics medal was even more impressive than his other award, Johnson said, because he was one of only a handful of “dual-purpose” dogs to compete in the narcotics events. Most of the dogs he went up against are used only for drug enforcement, so their talents and training are specifically geared in that direction.

Charly was the only “dual-purpose” dog to win honors in the narcotics competition, Johnson said, which tests a dog’s ability to sniff out drugs planted in vehicles and luggage.

The next World Games will be held in Australia in 1995, Johnson said, and North American dogs will not be able to compete because Australian quarantine restrictions would require the dogs to be taken out of circulation for three months, Johnson said.

The 1997 games will be held in Calgary. Because of Charly’s young age, Johnson said he will probably be the only dog who took part in last week’s games to return to competition in 1997.