Murrysville police sergeant has house full of police dogs
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If someone breaks into Scott Kettren’s house, they’re in a for a “ruff” time.
The Murrysville Police sergeant’s Penn Township residence is home to not one, but two, police dogs.
While Argos, the 13-year-old Belgian malinois who served as the department’s police dog for a decade, enjoys his retirement, Magnus the German shepherd is getting used to the routine and rigor of working as a member of the police department.
“Argos is an old man,” Kettren said. “Now that he’s been retired for a couple years, he’s a snuggle buddy. I get home from work and he wants to lay on the couch and watch TV.”
On the other side of the house, Magnus is still basically a puppy, Kettren said, full of energy and always ready to go.
“We do about four hours of training per week,” he said. “But our initial training program was much shorter. As a first-time handler, my original training (with Argos) was six weeks long.”
As a rookie dog handler in the fall of 2009, Kettren had to get used to handling the dog correctly and reading his body language.
“As a handler, you can cue the dog and possibly create an issue,” he said. “The biggest thing that comes with experience is being able to read the dog — to know if he’s showing you something, or if he needs some more time to work things out.”
Argos retired from service in May 2019 and, thanks to a generous donation from Murrysville residents George and Maxine Thomas, Kettren was back at Shallow Creek Kennel in Sharpsville by December 2019, meeting with Magnus.
Murrysville is one of several Westmoreland County police departments with a single dog officer. “We train with other one-dog departments like Ligonier, Latrobe and Penn Township,” Kettren said. “It varies from community to community, and a lot of it is based on the size of the department — North Huntingdon, McKeesport, Penn Hills, they all have multiple dogs.”
And when Kettren is on duty, so is Magnus.
“One of the biggest things that’s hard to measure is the deterrence aspect,” Kettren said. “When people know there’s a K-9 on the road, they may be less likely to initiate criminal activity. If an officer is having difficulty with a traffic stop, people tend to notice when they see that K-9 car pull up.”
Kettren said having a police dog available can help de-escalate a tense situation.
“If there’s the potential for a use-of-force incident, the K-9 might make people think twice about running,” he said. And at the end of the work day, in addition to staying on top of regular training, Kettren still has two large dogs to care for.
“Magnus is still in that young, energetic phase and a lot of his off-duty energy is spent exercising,” Kettren said. “To him, it’s playing ball. But when I toss the ball, I’m also working on commands. We can mix in training and play.”
He is also popular: A Murrysville Community Library event on July 30 that will feature Kettren and Magnus filled to capacity quickly.
And as long as Magnus is on the job, he’ll never be too old to learn a few new tricks.
“Our training is always ongoing,” Kettren said.