Deputy saves dog, trains him to search for dead bodies

While they may be known as “man’s best friend,” St. Charles Parish sheriff’s deputy Ricky Oubre is quickly becoming theirs.

For the past 15 years, Oubre has scowered the area in his quest to save dogs from animal shelters throughout the southeastern part of the state. Once the dogs are in Oubre’s care, he trains them for police work.

“I couldn’t even tell you how many of them I have rescued and trained,” Oubre said. “I started out just saving the dogs, but then I began to train them. I mostly send them to places around here after they’re trained, but I have sent them all over.”

Two years ago, Oubre saved a Labrador retriever named Loco that was just days away from lethal injection. Oubre came across the dog in an Ascension Parish animal shelter. It didn’t take long for Oubre to realize that Loco had been abused.

“As I extended my hand to pat his head, he recoiled like he thought I was going to hit him,” Oubre said.

Loco was soon taken home to live with Oubre and his family in order to give the dog some much-needed love and social interaction. After discovering that the animal had the traits needed for police work, Oubre trained Loco to be a narcotics dog. After Loco’s training, he was released to another detective on the narcotics unit.

And Loco will soon have a partner.

Recently, Oubre heard about another dog named Freckles from one of his co-workers.

“He told me that he had gone to this animal shelter and spent all of his time playing with this dog,” Oubre said.

Oubre then visited Freckles, who is estimated to be around 3-years-old, and brought him home.

“He’s kind of unique,” Oubre said with a chuckle. “He’s part lab, part hound and who knows what else, but he has all of the traits that I look for.”

One of those traits is “ball drive” and it is the ability of a dog to chase after a ball. Oubre says that a police dog’s ball drive must be stronger than his drive for food.

“So if I throw a ball and some food out, the dog has to chase after the ball above the food,” Oubre said.

The other trait is temperament, because all police dogs have to be social in order to be trained successfully.

While Oubre trained Loco for the narcotics division, Freckles was trained for search and rescue missions. Right now, Freckles can sniff out cadavers. In the future, Oubre hopes that he will be able to find live people in times of crisis.

“Freckles is trained now, and he will be at a level above most dogs,” Oubre said. “In the future, he will be able to search for live people by searching through the wreckage of a destroyed building such as in Oklahoma City and the World Trade Center.”

Oubre says that training a dog for scent isn’t that hard of a process, and is one that is referred to as “scent association.” He begins by playing ball with the dogs, then eventually he will hide the ball. A specific scent, whether it be that of a cadaver, arson or drugs, is then placed on the ball for the dog to find.

Oubre also has plans to train an arson dog and he is currently looking for an agency that will utilize such a dog and will supply a handler.

“I would just like to offer a special thanks to the Humane Society for their assistance for all these years,” Oubre said. “They really are a great group of people.”