From NMB to Oklahoma: How a local pit bull is paving the way for police dogs

With a little bit of help from the North Myrtle Beach Humane Society, Wildflower, a four-year-old pit bull, is paving the way for police dogs across the country.

After spending nearly three years at the humane society, Wildflower is the first pit bull to become a police dog. Now, she finds narcotics, including opioids, cocaine and methamphetamine at the Wetumka Police Department in Oklahoma.

"It's like the greatest feeling ever to see a dog that's so misunderstood," said Tina Hunter, executive director of the humane society. "I mean that breed is so misunderstood and labeled negatively when they really truly are a good breed of dog."

Shelter dog to police K9

Wildflower went to the North Myrtle Beach Humane Society in 2015 after she was picked up by animal control without a collar or ID.

She was eventually adopted, but was quickly returned to the shelter because of her high energy.

"Lots of times with pit bulls in the shelter we see that, because they're so smart and they get bored very easily," Hunter said. "So a shelter environment is sometimes not the greatest environment for a dog that's really, really high-strung and smart, because they get bored."

Finally, Wildflower was fostered by Katharine Keaton, who owns Murray Law in Little River. Keaton took Wildflower to the offices every day where Wildflower was introduced to the public with hopes of being adopted.

But after realizing how smart Wildflower was, Keaton started looking for places that adopted dogs with potential to be working dogs.

"Everybody was interested in the skills, because she had the skills, but then when they found out she was a pit bull, the conversation shut down," Hunter said. "Nobody wanted to touch her because she was a pit bull."

That's when Hunter and Keaton found Throw Away Dogs Project.

Throw Away Dogs Project was founded in 2014 and works to "repurpose dogs who are misunderstood because of high energy," founder Carol Skaziak said.

"Wildflower, they actually contacted us probably about a year ago," Skaziak said. "They said they have this dog who's been in the shelter for a long time."

At the time, Skaziak said the organization wasn't looking to adopt any new dogs. However, Keaton was persistent and, finally, the shelter sent a video of Wildflower so Throw Away Dogs could see if she was a fit to be a police dog.

Soon after a trainer watched the video, Wildflower was transported to Pennsylvania, where she began training.

"It was probably the hardest thing I every did was leaving my baby girl up there," Hunter said.

Narcotics training

Once in Pennsylvania, Wildflower began her training to sniff out narcotics. Skaziak said a trainer starts with a towel, playing tug-of-war with the dog. Then the towel is made to smell like different drugs. If the dog can find the towel, they are rewarded with a game.

For Wildflower, it wasn't until a blue lacrosse ball rolled across the floor that her training really began.

"She spotted it and absolutely went bonkers over it," Skaziak said.

Wildflower recently received her certifications and has been working with Police Chief Joe Chitwood. This week, she made her first drug bust during a traffic stop, finding methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia, according to a post on the Throw Away Dogs Project Facebook page.

"The whole story's kind of crazy and I've said all along, I really think that if she had gone to any other, not to say that any other shelters are awful, but had she gone into any other shelter system, she probably would have been euthanized and labeled unadoptable just because of her energy level and she could have totally been misunderstood," Hunter said.

According to Skaziak, the organization has received two applications from police departments specifically asking for pit bulls, due to Wildflower's success.

"This girl is so happy," Skaziak said. "She's the sweetest thing."

This story was originally published June 19, 2018 at 12:51 PM with the headline "From NMB to Oklahoma: How a local pit bull is paving the way for police dogs."