After nearly nine years of serving the campus community with his trusted partner, Officer Greg Nolf is now training a rookie on the LUPD beat.
For Nolf, who has been in Lehigh’s service for 18 years, training a newbie means sharing his vehicle, keeping up with the energy of a younger officer, running repeated drills to sharpen their new skills, exercising patience, and making sure he always has treats on hand.
The treats are crucial when your new partner is an 8-month-old Labrador retriever named Clare.
Nolf is up to the challenge. He’s worked with Lehigh’s K9 on duty since 2016, when LUcy, Lehigh’s first K9 police dog, was added to the force. The opportunity to expand the team to include a dog that specialized in tracking arose when a donor stepped forward to support the initiative.
The LUPD posted the opportunity for officers interested in partnering with a dog, applicants expressed their interest, and interviews were conducted. “Fortunately, I ended up getting it,” recalls Nolf.
After LUcy’s trip from the Netherlands, Nolf picked her up from JFK International Airport. They enjoyed two valuable months of bonding before jumping into training. Nolf and K9 LUcy were each certified by the National Police Canine Association for explosives detection and tracking.
The tenure of a K9 typically lasts nine years, so when LUcy’s ninth year was approaching, Nolf and Assistant Chief of Police Chris Houtz began looking for their next K9 dog that would inherit her post.
The New Recruit
This time, Nolf and Houtz worked with D&S Retrievers in Kutztown. They specialize in working and hunting dogs, and LUPD had used them to find their therapy dogs, Grace and Scout.
“When we knew we were about to replace [LUcy], Greg and I had a conversation with D&S and told them, ‘This is what we’re looking for,’ and they helped us select what they thought the best breed and everything would be, and then Greg is the one that got to pick the dog.”
“We knew we were going to go with a lab this time,” says Nolf. “Once they were born, we started socializing with the dogs and looking at the dogs. We went up a few times. We wanted a good personality, a social dog that was going to work. So we went up, hid some stuff, and she was already tracking. She was a great pick.”
Growing the Family
Clare is not a replacement for LUcy; both dogs will stay with Nolf along with his puggle, Elton. With two older dogs in the house, it’s an adjustment introducing a puppy to the family. But when asked what LUcy thinks of her new sister, Nolf says, “I think she’s proud of her.”
There’s a lot to be proud of. The next phase of Clare’s training will prepare her for some serious business that LUcy previously handled.
Nolf explains, “We’re going to train in explosives and tracking. Our primary job is working on the campus here. If there are any calls for service to check stuff on campus, we do a lot of the venues — speaker events, commencement events. And then we also assist in mutual aid. If a local or state or federal agency needs assistance with something or needs help — like a bomb threat, for example — we also do that.”
To be able to offer these services is a great asset to the force, according to Houtz. And the contributions of donors have helped maintain the K9 program.
“We’ve had a couple of donors come forward, and that has been extremely helpful because there are costs like veterinary bills, and we need to make sure these guys take perfect care of the dogs — food, care, and everything. In Greg’s case, he has a specialized vehicle equipped with climate control and monitoring.”
“The value they bring,” Houtz continues, “you can’t measure that.”
“It’s always a positive thing to have dogs around,” adds Nolf. “Especially to have one as a partner.”
