By Dennis Box-The Courier-Herald

There is a new dog in town and Gunner is his name.

The Bonney Lake Police Department's newest member is a 2-year-old chocolate Labrador. Gunner's job is to find drugs, and he has already earned high marks.

Gunner will be Officer Brian VanSickle's constant companion. The city owns the dog, but VanSickle will care for him.

The two recently graduated from the Narcotic Dog Academy, which is located on McNeil Island Corrections Center and operated by the Department of Corrections.

VanSickle and Gunner went through a six-week course to learn about each other and how to work together to fight drug crime.

The officer spent the past year setting up the program for a narcotics detection K-9 dog, including researching and writing the department policies.

VanSickle said there were about 13 dogs at the start of the course.

“They were trying to make sure the dog has the personality for the work and we can work with the dog,” VanSickle said. “Gunner and I matched up on day two.”

VanSickle said Gunner was rescued from the Kitsap County Humane Society. The Labrador has been trained to detect marijuana, black tar heroine, crack cocaine and methamphetamine.

When Gunner finds drugs he gets to play with his tennis ball, which is the reward he is working toward.

“Dogs naturally sniff things,” Van Sickle said. “But the dog has to have the drive to want to play with the ball.”

VanSickle said they are still learning together. The course was a controlled atmosphere and now they are in the real world of crime.

“This is a really good thing to add to the police department,” Van Sickle said.

Gunner and VanSickle are on call 24 hours a day and they work for other police agencies in the area. Buckley also has a drug detection dog.

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com or 360-802-8209.