Indiana State Police added a new K-9 team to the Evansville District. Trooper Dustan Rubenacker and his K-9, Odin, recently graduated from the K-9 Academy in Indianapolis and are now patrolling areas throughout the district.
Rubenacker is a two-year veteran of the Indiana State Police and primarily patrolled Vanderburgh County prior to becoming a certified K-9 handler.
Odin is a 2 year-old male Belgian Malinois. Rubenacker purchased Odin as a pet, hoping one day his dog would become his partner. Rubenacker spent many hours of his own time training Odin before offering his dog to the Indiana State Police K-9 program. The department accepted Rubenacker’s offer and gave him an opportunity to attend training to become a certified K-9 team. The Indiana State Police has never accepted a trooper’s pet dog to become an Indiana State Police K-9 until Rubenacker and Odin successfully completed their K-9 training.
Rubenacker and Odin’s twelve weeks of training consisted of narcotic searches, aggression control, building searches, tracking, article searches and obedience. Odin is also certified in the detection of narcotic odors related to methamphetamine, marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy and heroin.
