Grants Pass K-9 Partner Otis: The Nose That Knows! (Photo) -05/05/23
Grants Pass, Ore. – The Grants Pass Police Department is announcing our amazing new partner, K-9 Otis! He is the first scent-discriminating K-9 ever deployed by Grants Pass Police. Otis was born on February 9, 2022, in Washington and is an AKC-registered Bloodhound with an ultra-sensitive nose that can discern one person’s scent from that of another. Otis’s primary function as a police K-9 is to find lost people, specifically missing elderly citizens or children, but he can also assist patrol with locating suspected criminals.
Police Officer George Gasperson is K-9 Otis’s handler. Officer Gasperson first met Otis as a puppy on May 23, 2022, at Coby Webb’s K9 Training facility in Beaumont, California. Coby Webb and her associate Dan Thamert are National Police Bloodhound Association trainers. Officer Gasperson began training with Otis on the first day they met. Upon arriving at his new home in Grants Pass, Otis continued his training and socialization. His distinctive Bloodhound baying could often be heard in the Records area of the Police Department as he spent socialization hours with Records Supervisor Terri McClure and the records crew.
Otis has a much more sensitive nose than most Police K9s. After smelling a scent article, like a sock or glove, Otis can distinguish that person’s scent from all others and track where the person went. Depending on weather conditions, Otis can follow an odor that is hours old! In February 2023, Otis and Officer Gasperson attended the National Police Bloodhound Association conference in Los Angeles. After numerous days of testing, including tracking a person who ran through busy Staple Center crowds, through busy parking lots, and across streets of moving traffic where Otis successfully found the person, Otis received his official certification through NPBA.
The Grants Pass Police Department is proud to have Otis as a K-9 partner and wants to congratulate him and his handler Officer Gasperson on their successful certification. Otis is just starting his law enforcement career, and we look forward to his productive future as he serves the citizens of Grants Pass.
###
