The deputies of the K-9 unit of the Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office are Will Mosier, left, and Josh Dew, right. With them is Interim Sheriff Larry McNeil.
The K-9 unit of the Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office works just as hard as their human counterparts.
The unit is comprised of Red, a year-old bloodhound, and his handler Deputy Josh Dew along with Rojo, a five-year-old golden retriever, and his handler Deputy Will Mosier.
Red
Dew said Red was born June 12, 2021, and was acquired from Darlington County Sheriff’s Office.
Red is a tracking dog and is used to find missing people, and track down people who have committed crimes and are on foot. Recently, Red was used for armed robbery in McColl, where the subject was caught.
“The purpose of getting the bloodhound is that we went through a period of time where we had numerous missing people in Marlboro County,” Dew said. “He will be a big asset for the Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office when it comes to missing people.”
Red lives at the Sheriff’s office in a fenced-in area out back.
Dew has been trained on tracking with Red and worked on picking up on cues of Red when he is looking for a missing person.
And when Red is out looking for missing people, Dew lets him do his job.
“I just follow behind him and he will lead us to it. I train with the dog to get to know him and learn cues when he is off that track or when he’s just messing around. Normally when he’s got his head down, tail up, he’s on track and he’s tracking pretty well.”
Dew said he and Red have been training a lot. We’ve been training the last couple of months hard. I normally leave him back here until it’s time to go to work. And he knows when it’s time to work. We’ll load him up and he’ll get that look in his eyes where he’s ready to work.
Red is one of several bloodhounds had by the Sheriff’s Office. The most recent one was Taras. She got a little old and didn’t want to track anymore. So she’s actually in Richmond County right now. They took her off our hands and that’s when we purchased a new bloodhound that was a little bit younger.
Rojo
He is a five-year-old golden retriever. He was born and bred in Columbia, South America. He served as a Colombian police dog for about a year to a year and a half. And then he was transparently imported out to Florida, where he was a police dog for a sheriff’s office there.
He is trained in narcotics detection to detect any type of narcotic from heroin or marijuana, methamphetamine, and cocaine.
Mosier said the main goal is to use him in the schools to search for drugs and on traffic stops for trafficking situations and narcotics.
“We are trying to eliminate drugs,” Mosier said. “We have got a high drug problem in Marlboro County and we’re going to stop it.” Rojo lives with Mosier and his wife.
“He is a very close family member. He is our child,” he added.
As far as training, Mosier has been around canines and it is all he ever wanted to do.
His brother-in-law, Randy Bass, taught Mosier a lot of what he knows.
Mosier thanked Bass for making it possible to get Rojo.
Rojo and Mosier have been going through some intense training in the past three to four months with a trainer. The pair were to go for certification this week.
If they attain it, they will be nationally certified and will be able to help any agency.
Dew and Red are working on their certification.
“Normally, the bloodhound takes more training to go and get that certification. but we’re working and training pretty hard with him,” Dew said.
If something comes up, the dogs can still be used.
Red and Rojo are not just ordinary dogs. They are deputies with badges.
If someone harms them, it is the same as harming their human counterpart.
Mosier said they could get charged with assaulting a police officer for harming one of those dogs.
The K-9 unit is on 24/7 call.
“So if the phone rings, we have to go,” Mosier said.
The Marlboro County Sheriff’s Office has a drone that is used with the tracking dog.
“We use the drone in the air to follow either the dog or the handler to get a location of where they are and when they’re tracking,” Dew said.
Mosier said it is a full-time job having a dog and all of the responsibilities of the job.
“It is pretty much like your kid,” Dew added. “You have to take care of him. This is your responsibility and we take on that responsibility because we get along well with the dogs and also the canine unit that we have together. We get along as well.”
Interim Sheriff Larry McNeil said they are happy to have the animals and glad they have deputies willing to work with the dogs. He thanked Darlington County Sheriff’s Department for Red as well as the agency in Florida that gave them Rojo.
McNeil also thanked James McBrayer, who made a contribution for the dogs as well as Richard McDonald who has been working with the Sheriff’s Office to get the dogs prepared.
McDonald is a longtime canine trainer, who has worked with the government for years training animals.
McNeil said he was grateful for Dew and Mosier, who put in the time and effort away from their families for the K-9 unit.
“We look forward to being able to utilize these dogs in the community to help make it a better and safer place to live,” McNeil said.