NEWPORT BEACH : Young Police Dog Learning Old Tricks

By LYNN FRANEY

May 17, 1994 12 AM PT

Things were quiet around Officer Kent Eischen’s house after veteran police dog Dingo died late last year.

Now Eischen hears the pad of canine paws once again.

This time it’s Jago, one of two imported German shepherds the Police Department recently bought to take over Dingo’s job sniffing out drugs and locating suspects and lost children.

The friendly, 75-pound Jago lives with Eischen and his roommate and spends his days cruising Newport Beach alongside his master in the department’s special K-9 Jeep.

The 4-year-old dog officially started patrol Saturday. So far, Eischen says, Jago has learned to track suspects and sniff out evidence. By the end of the summer he will be ready to learn to pick up the scent of illegal drugs.

“He’s adapting pretty good,” Eischen said Monday. “He loves to go to work. As soon as I get him up, he races out to the Jeep.”

One reason why the department chose Jago is the fact that he is Dingo’s distant cousin--Dingo’s grandfather was Jago’s great-great-great grandfather, Eischen says. Dingo lived with Eischen and his roommate, Dingo’s handler, until the 10-year-old dog’s death after cyst surgery.

“It’s good we have a dog in the house again and that he’s a relative (of Dingo). He’s almost a member of the family,” Eischen said, rubbing Jago’s thick, black fur, and telling him, in German, to sit.

Eischen is acting for the first time as a police dog handler, which he describes as “one of the best spots in the department.”

He said the Police Department has two other German shepherds, Audo and Thomy. Each dog costs about $7,500, partly because they are bought from special breeding kennels in Europe. The money was raised by city residents.

So far, the dogs appear to be earning their keep. Police Chief Robert J. McDonell said that just last week Thomy and an Irvine police dog sniffed out four ounces of cocaine hidden deep within a car’s dashboard.

“We’ve been really pleased with them so far,” McDonell said. “They’re spirited and versatile.”