Indiana’s Conservation Officer K-9 Teams

“Go to work,” Indiana Conservation Officer Jon Cook calls out in the early morning sun at Prophetstown State Park. His command is directed at his partner, K-9 TK, who immediately begins searching the area. Cook and TK, along with a handful of fellow conservation officer K-9 teams, are at the park for a monthly training session.

The group of Indiana K-9 Resource Protection Program teams start its day with area search practice. After locating the training object and signaling to Cook, TK is rewarded with a game of fetch across the grassy field before the next K-9 team begins its exercise.

Cook looks on as K-9 TK searches the area.

While the time spent at Prophetstown is just training, these talented K-9s and their handlers are regularly called in to help save lives and protect Indiana’s natural resources.

“Throughout the hunting seasons, tracking violators or even a missing subject in the woods seems to be the most common call,” said Indiana Conservation Officer Matt Tholen, the program’s coordinator. “We’re also regularly called in for article searches for our agency and requested by other law enforcement agencies.”

Each K-9 team is trained in human tracking, article searching, and wildlife detection. All can locate white-tailed deer, wild turkey, waterfowl, and ginseng, and some K-9s are trained to detect other species, depending on the region they’re located in. Ginseng is a valuable plant that grows throughout Indiana and is frequently illegally harvested outside of the allowed season.

K-9 Marsh enjoys a game of fetch after successful area search training.

K-9s often serve as officers for around nine or 10 years, a process that begins with an intensive nine-week school and is followed by career-long training. Since starting in 1997, Indiana’s K-9 program has grown to be one of the most respected in the nation. In addition to training Indiana conservation officers and their K-9s each year, the school has helped start and train teams from nine different states and the country of Zambia.

In 2025, five Indiana K-9s and their handlers will go through the school along with two teams from Kansas. One of those K-9s will work with Cook. With K-9 TK set to retire, his successor, KT, is already working toward becoming one of the next Indiana K-9 conservation officers.

K-9 KT enjoying attention from Cook.

The K-9 teams can often experience long, challenging days in the field or on the road, especially in the heat of summer. Each K-9 vehicle is now equipped with heat alarms that alert the officers when the temperature reaches a certain point. They receive a notification, the windows roll down, and alert lights come on, something the conservation officers appreciate.

“We’re very fortunate and thankful to have the heat alarms,” Tholen said. “They have been huge in helping keep the dogs cool during the hot Indiana summers.”

These heat alarms, along with GPS tracking units and veterinary expenses, are just a few of the things that your donations support. Generous gifts help fund items that fall outside of the operational budget but are much needed for the safety and well-being of the K-9s.

If you want to support Indiana’s K-9 teams as they continue to help Hoosiers and protect Indiana’s natural resources, visit our donation page and select “K9 LE” in the designated gift dropdown menu.