Last modified: Tuesday, October 7, 2008 11:03 AM PDT KATIE PIZZA | ARGUS OBSERVER Washington County Sheriff's Office Deputy Kevin Figueroa shows Multnomah County’s Todd Webber how to keep a dog calm on surveillance missions at the Malheur County Fairgrounds Monday afternoon. About 120 police officers from throughout the Oregon/Washington/Idaho/Montana area went through training exercises as part of the three-day training seminar for police canines and handlers, OPD Capt. Mark Alexander said. Going to the dogs By Katie Pizza Argus Observer Ontario — The Malheur County Fairgrounds was filled with deep, guttural woofs as dozens of police dogs and their handlers descended on Ontario to train with the Oregon Police Canine Association Monday. The three-day-long event tests and improves canine skills through takedowns and detection programs. Dog and handler teams from Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Ontario signed up for the event Ontario Police Department Capt. Mark Alexander said at the Chamber of Commerce meeting Monday afternoon. A few hours earlier,     McMinnville Police Officer Justin Zemlicka zipped up a dark denim attack suit and prepared to enter a whitewashed cattle stall at the Malheur County Fairgrounds. He wrapped his thickly padded arms around a post and spread his feet apart, his reddened, sweaty face angled downward toward a metal trough. Beyond him, Basco, a black 4-year-old Malinos stood alert, waiting for the call to attack. Medford Police Department Officer Tom Wenables shouted and Basco bolted into the stall, biting and holding onto Zemlicka’s padded legs. “Ah!” he shouted in feigned surprise. “Get your dog off of me!” McMinnville Sgt. Rhonda Sandoval said the exercise is to train canines not to go for the suspect’s arms every time they attack. A second part of the exercise had each dog rushing into the stall to pull Zemlicka out. Sandoval, who has been working with dogs since 1999, said this was to see how the dogs stepped over the wooden plank separating the stall from the aisleway. She said the dogs were unfettered by the obstacle. “They couldn’t care less,” she said. “They were on a bite.” The way the dogs responded to obstacles was important, Sandoval said, because the next day’s exercise would involve them retrieving a suspect from underneath a bush or car. She also told the assembled law enforcement officers they could increase the length of bites by attaching the dog to a bungee cord. This cord, she said, will pull the dog away when they release their grip. “If the dog lets go,” she said, “the bungee cord pulls them back and the bad guy goes away. They lose their fun.” Sandoval said she and the Oregon Police Canine Association do seminars several times a year. “We do all kinda of things to try to make it as close to real life as possible,” she said. However, not all of the seven events awarded the canines for aggressive behavior. Washington County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Kevin Figueroa showed Multomah County’s Todd Webber the proper way to keep his dog, 41⁄2-and-a-half -year-old German Shepherd Varro, calm during surveillance missions. Webber laid in the middle of the grassy field, with Varro crouched on his haunches next to him. Figueroa attempted to step over man and dog, but stopped when muzzled Varro leaped toward him. Figueroa tried another technique, instructing officers to step over near Varro’s wagging tail, rather than his midsection. The dust of a long’s day work coated on Varro’s black fur as each of the four officers stepped over Varro’s now still tail. Figueroa also showed the proper way to lift hold a dog, hands interlocked together, keeping the animal secure. He then instructed Webber to carry the dog to a chain-link fence and hand him to another officer.  Figueroa, who has his own K-9, a 7-year-old German Shepherd named Gus, said the exercise was an important part of keeping the dog socialized. “It gets the dog used to being handled by other people,” he said.  “it gets other people to be able to trust your dog.”