FORCE'S BEST FRIENDS 7 CANINES DOGGEDLY PURSUE THEIR AF TASKS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Ringo served in the war on terror and helped keep the president secure, but what really thrills him is the sight of a ball.

Ringo, a 10-year-old Belgian Malinois, works out of Edwards Air Force Base, searching for drugs and weapons and hunting for suspects. His military service includes 7 1/2 months in Pakistan and a month patrolling President Bush's Texas ranch.

``You have to watch out when you're around any kind of ball,'' said Ringo's handler, Staff Sgt. James Pilkenton. ``In Pakistan, we started a trophy case - basketball, soccer ball, volleyball - he was trying to get them all.''

Ringo is one of seven working dogs that assist the base's Security Police. The canines also are occasionally called in to assist law enforcement in surrounding communities.

``They are used the same way they would be by the Sheriff's Department downtown, only in a military setting,'' said Master Sgt. Kevin Lehmann, Edwards' kennel master. ``The most valuable thing is the deterrence the dog brings to the party.''

In addition to keeping the base secure, the dogs assist Security Police in handling crime on base. The dogs often command respect when the human cops run into contentious situations.

``Whoever the bad person is, they would be more than happy to fight three or four people,'' Lehmann said. ``When the handler gets on the scene, they might get mouthy, but they stay calm.''

The Air Force acquires the dogs through vendors in Europe. Unable to acquire all the dogs they need, the service recently started its own breeding program, Lehmann said.

Dogs and handlers are trained at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Handlers go through an 11-week course, and dogs are trained anywhere from two to four months.

Staff Sgt. Stacey Harrington, who has been stationed at Edwards for five years, graduated from the handling course in June.

``The first couple of days of training you don't work with the dogs,'' Harrington said. ``You do it with buckets. You have a leash attached to a bucket. It's kind of embarrassing, but you have 13 other people doing it. They are using the bucket to teach you the commands they want you to use so you don't mess up the dog.''

The handlers go on to spend a couple of days being with their dogs to build rapport. The dog and handler move on to basic obedience commands, then progress into the skills they will need on the job.

Once back in the Antelope Valley, Harrington was partnered with Eddie, a 3-year-old German shepherd, the youngest of the Edwards dogs.

``Eddie was a problem child, from what I was told. He wanted to be a house dog,'' Harrington said. ``His previous handler built him up to what he is now.''

Recently, a motorist was being argumentative with guards at the west gate. Eddie's arrival calmed the situation down.

The oldest working dog at Edwards is Cora, an 11-year-old Dutch shepherd. Cora is partnered with Staff Sgt. Chad Pearce, who became a handler a year ago.

``She's seen other handlers, so she took to me real easy,'' Pearce said. ``It was kind of like she was teaching me. It was like she knew the job a lot better than I did.''

Pearce describes Cora as a dog with a calm, ``Been there, done that'' personality.

``She's a working dog, but she's a real loving dog,'' Pearce said.

Last year, Pearce and Cora assisted with security for President George W. Bush during one of his California visits.

``We searched and cleared the hotel areas where he was staying,'' Pearce said. ``That was real cool. We got to see the president.''

When a handler is sent elsewhere on temporary deployments, the dog goes along. Ringo and Pilkenton spent much of 2003 away from Edwards.

In Pakistan, Ringo was one of the dogs that helped search vehicles coming into an American compound. If the dogs smelled anything suspicious, which happened on a couple of occasions, the vehicles were sent away.

While in Pakistan, Ringo kept trying to sleep in Pilkenton's bed.

``I would wake up in the middle of the night with my legs asleep from him laying across them,'' Pilkenton said.

In August, Pilkenton and Ringo went to President Bush's Texas ranch, often performing sweeps on the hills and ridges.

``(We were) lucky (that) the hotel we were at had two beds,'' Pilkenton said. ``It took me a day to get him to realize that bed is for you, and that bed is for me.''

One of the big differences between civilian and military dog teams is that civilians always get to take their dogs home with them at the end of the day.

The military teams can also be broken up when a handler is sent to a new duty station, and sometimes it might take a few weeks for a dog to adjust to a new handler.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) Cora, 11, a calm Dutch shepherd, is the oldest working dog at Edwards Air Force Base.

(2 -- 3 -- color; 2 color in AV edition only; 3 ran in AV edition only) Above, Staff Sgt. Chad Pearce stands with Cora. At left, Pearce watches as the Dutch shepherd, whom he says basically helped train him as a handler, runs steps on command.

(4 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) Ten-year-old Ringo, a Belgian Malinois, has served in Pakistan and helped patrol President Bush's ranch in Texas.

(5 -- color -- ran in AV edition only) Ringo practices technique at Edwards Air Force Base with Staff Sgt. Stacey Harrington, who graduated from an 11-week dog handling course in Texas in June.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer