COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Patrol Officer John Browning has always dreamed of working with dogs since he was a kid.
In 2016, he was determined to join the first K-9 unit at the Texas A&M University Police Department.
Now, he is pairing up with his second K-9 officer, K-9 Taps, and they're already developing a relationship.
"We get along really well. She’s working really well," Browning said.
"She is responding very, very quickly to me. We have a good relationship. It’s getting better."
K-9 Taps is a two year-old German Shepard who was born in Poland.
K9s4COPs, a non-profit organization that donates fully-trained K-9s to schools and communities to create safer futures, gifted Taps to the department in June, and the donation was made possible through ASCO in Bryan.
She is a certified Explosives Detection and Tracking Dog after completing a 120-hour detection course at the Pacesetter K-9 Academy in Liberty Hill in June.
Public Information Officer Robert Leseth says K-9s do what their partners cannot.
"K-9s, obviously, their senses are significantly better than ours," Leseth said.
"The amount of time for a K-9 officer and his dog to detect something is significantly faster than it would a standard officer."
It's what she and Browning do every day.
They respond to calls, perform K-9 sweeps before large events, train, and she even takes a break to play.
Leseth believes Browning and K-9 Taps demonstrate qualities of good officers.
"He’s [Browning] a really experienced officer who brings a lot to the table," he said.
At the end of the day, it's back to Browning's home where he takes care of her, feeding and bathing her.
There, she becomes a normal dog.
"She changes into a completely different animal at the house, wants to play with the kids, wants to lay around and be loved on and do normal dog things, but when we’re at work, we’re 100% ready to go," Browning said.
But when they wake up, they're ready to do it all over again.
"We absolutely love coming to work every day. It’s her favorite thing in the world is to come to work and do her job, which to her is just a game. She doesn’t know she’s looking for explosives. All she’s knows is when she smells what she’s supposed to be finding, I get happy, and she gets her toys," Browning said.
And K-9 Taps takes her day job seriously.
"We spend all day training and it’s to be, i know it sounds cliché, but it’s to be the best we can be cause i can’t mess up. I can’t miss," Browning said.
K-9 Taps and Browning will be on-campus daily patrolling special events and sporting events and even helping out other law enforcement agencies.