A familiar set of faces at the St Louis County Sheriffs’ Department come in partners in crime Deputy Sheriff Marty Thorne and Thor.

“I’ve been with the Sheriff’s Office about nine years and I got interested in canine pretty much right when I was hired. I started decoying for our canine units that we had at the time which decoying is hiding for the dogs, taking bites, putting out drugs for them to find, things like that. I did that for six years and then I was lucky enough to get my own canine,” said Thorne

Thor, the five-year-old Czech-Shepherd, came to Marty right before his third birthday. The two have been working together ever since.

“He’s considered a dual-purpose canine which means he’s certified in detection, and his detection is narcotics. And then he’s also certified as a patrol canine which includes things like suspect locating, suspect apprehension, tracking, evidence recovery things of that nature,” said Thorne.

For K-9 handler pairs, the training never stops.

“We do two different certifications every year. We do our narcotic certification where you know we’re run through a test scenario and vehicles and in. Buildings where he has to show that he can locate drugs as well as he can tell me if there’s a car or building that has none in them. And this year he actually scored a perfect score.” said Thorne.

“We do another certification where he’s got to show he can find suspects hiding in open air, find suspects hiding in buildings. He’s got to show that he’s got obedience. So, we run through an obedience thing and then he’s got to show that he can apprehend suspects and release on his bite when i give him the command to release. And he’s very good with that as well,” said Thorne.

Like humans, dogs have a wide variety of personalities, and for Thor – well he has a one-track mind

“He loves to work he doesn’t realize he’s working when we are working, he takes it as playing. He is a very high-strung dog he wants to play all day every day. If he gets tired, he will go get a drink of water lay down for five minutes and then he’ll say dad let’s go again,” said Thorne.

Since K-9’s like Thor are constantly being trained to seek out a variety of people, caution should be utilized if you see them in public in, and out of the uniform.

“If you do see a canine handler and a canine out working or just out and about keep your distance. Most of these canines are not very people friendly. They’re very protective of their handlers. Some you can pet if the handler says you can but just keep your distance. Listen to commands given by the handlers. They’ll tell you what you need to do to keep yourself safe,” said Thorne.

No matter the job, the trust and love between these two remains unbreakable.