By John Leggett-The Courier Herald

Yogi truly is smarter than the average bear - uh, make that dog.

He is the newest officer of the Buckley Police Department and, according to his handler, Officer Adam Garrett, provides a valuable resource.

That fact was displayed during last week's meeting of the Buckley City Council. Prior to the session, Garrett and Police Chief Jim Arsanto had randomly planted drugs and drug paraphernalia - items they had borrowed from the confiscated property holding cage - under tables and chairs scattered around the room.

When it was time to showcase Yogi's strong suit he was very convincing. Yogi went right for Councilman Bob Olson's seat, where there was a concealed bag of marijuana. Olson became a bit flustered, holding his hands up as if to disavow any knowledge and saying, &#8220I don't know where that stuff came from!”

&#8220We don't have X-ray vision to look through a locked glove box, the trunk of a car or even the locked door of a house, but if Yogi gets anywhere near he can smell the narcotics inside,” Garrett said. &#8220Dogs have roughly 10 times the sense of smell that we do, in addition to being able to hear far better than any human being can.”

Garrett said being Yogi's handler really is a labor of love.

&#8220After being at the training center (McNeil Island State Penitentiary) for a week, the main instructor asked us which dog we would be most comfortable handling. I immediately chose Yogi. He is so smart. He picks up on things very quickly and he is extremely obedient. By now he knows the different inflections in my voice and my posture when I give him a command.

&#8220When I tell him something using a certain voice, he knows non-compliance is not an option. It's like he is smart enough to know what his job is. He is very focused during training, but the only time that narc dogs are ineffective is when they become tuckered out, because when they are panting they cannot be sniffing. They can't do both at the same time,” Garrett said.

Yogi has a sit-down job. That is what he is supposed to do when he picks up the scent of narcotics. Sit.

&#8220He doesn't start barking like crazy or anything wild like you might see on TV,” Garrett said. &#8220It is a very non-aggressive response that we both learned after the training sessions at McNeil Island, 240 hours worth. He calmly sits down right next to where he smells the drugs.”

The narcotics Yogi has been trained to smell are marijuana, black tar heroine, crack cocaine, cocaine and meth. While there is an element of danger to Yogi's job, unlike patrol dogs he probably will never have to wear body armor when he is working a case, because much of the work he does happens after the house, building or car has been cleared of any danger.

&#8220I am responsible for Yogi's safety. If we are going to be doing anything that I think will be putting him in harm's way he won't be riding along,” Garrett said.

Asked to describe Yogi's demeanor, Garrett said, &#8220Unfortunately he is 100 pounds of sweetheart, but he knows when a situation is serious. Once his learning curve is through, he is going to be a great public relations asset to the department. He just has to be around people more. It is quite a transition for him not being around the other narc dogs and not being in his kennel at the penitentiary.

&#8220Once he gets a little more used to being around people that are strange to him, we can take him to schools and educate people as to what his function as an officer is.”

Garrett said Yogi is kind of a joker sometimes without really trying to be. &#8220The funniest thing I ever saw him do is when we were about midway through the training at McNeil and we were doing parcel searches,” Garrett related.

&#8220The dogs aren't suppose to stick their heads all the way down into the box, but he kept doing it and running around with a cardboard box stuck on his head. All the other handlers were just cracking up. At least I know he's got a playful side, but we weren't really encouraged to reward that behavior, because then they'll think they can go nuts all the time.”

Fortunately Yogi is intelligent enough to know when its time to buckle down and put his nose to the grindstone.

John Leggett can be reached at jleggett@courierherald.com.