K-9 Patrol & Narcotic Units

Background


The Louisa County Sheriff's Office mainly uses Belgian Malinois and German Shepherds for our Patrol and Narcotics canines. These dogs are imported from Europe and typically join the Sheriff's Office when they are between 1 to 3 years old. European dogs are primarily utilized because they have a strong work ethic and provide our community with the best return for the investment, in time and money that a canine team requires to maintain its level of effectiveness.
K-9 Logo

Deputy Bryan Hager & K-9 Barney


K-9 Barney


K-9 Barney, a Dutch Sheppard, was born in Holland in April of 2007. In July of 2009, Since receiving his certifications in beginning of October 2009, K-9 Barney has assisted with over 300 calls for service. Because of his keen sense of smell, K-9 Barney has helped to recover four pounds of marijuana on a single traffic stop that also lead to the finding of a firearm, drug paraphernalia, and thousands of dollars in cash. Additionally, K9 Barney located cocaine on a high-risk warrant service that was street valued at over $4000. In such a short time, K-9 Barney has proven to be a great asset to the community.

Deputy Hager


  • Deputy Hager started his career in Law Enforcement as a Military Police Officer in the U.S. Army.
  • Deputy Hager came to the Louisa County Sheriff's Office in May 2011 and after completing the Law Enforcement Academy became a Patrol Deputy.
  • In 2013, Deputy Hager was promoted to the K9 Division and became the handler of K9 Barney.

Deputy D.J. Hart & K-9 Kaeo


K-9 Kaeo


K-9 Kaeo, is a 3-year old Malinois acquired from Brian and China Hamilton of Spotsylvania, owners known for obedience training of schutzhund and performing K-9s. Kaeo was determined to be an excellent candidate for the Sheriff's Office K9 Unit. To date K-9 Kaeo has assisted with over 80 calls for service.

Some of K-9 Kaeo's best calls to date were Kaeo locating a suspect who was wanted and eluding capture for over a year, with previous history of assaulting law enforcement. K-9 Kaeo discovered a trap door in the floor of the house where the suspect had entered and was hiding in a crawl space. After announcing the K-9 Team would be sent in to locate the suspect, the suspect emerged and was taken into custody without incident. Another call for service was Kaeo was able to locate a suspect, that had a protective order and was harassing a home owner. Suspect was located by Kaeo under a deck in the back yard of the residence and was taken into custody.

Deputy D.J. Hart


  • Started his career with the Spotsylvania County Sheriff's Office as a Patrol Deputy in 2004.
  • In 2014, Deputy D.J. Hart was hired by Louisa County Sheriff's Office with hopes of becoming a K-9 Handler
  • At the end of 2014, Deputy Hart became the handler of K-9 Kaeo.

Deputy James Tennyson & K-9 Jary


K9 Jary


K-9 Jary was born February 2, 2011. He was imported from Holland and trained by Master Trainer Armin Winkler through Rivanna K-9. Jary was released for duty in January 2015 as a dual purpose patrol and narcotics detection K-9. He is certified in tracking, criminal apprehension, building and area searches, obedience and handler protection as well.

Deputy Tennyson


  • Started his law enforcement career with the Charlottesville Police Department.
  • In July of 2015 he was hired by the Louisa County Sheriff's Office as a Deputy in the Patrol Division.
  • Deputy Tennyson and K-9 Jary started training together in August of 2016 and he quickly became a great partner and member of the family.