Vigo County arson dog ready for more

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) – Vigo County’s arson investigation dog will return to training this weekend.

Blaze is a year old. He and his handler Darrick Scott spent part of their Wednesday afternoon entertaining the residents of Providence Health Care in St. Mary-of-the-Woods.

“He loves it, loves being out in the public,” said Scott. “It gives him an opportunity, which is part of his training, to be out in the public.”

Of course, these residents couldn’t get enough of Blaze, and of course, he loves all of the attention. He’s completed track and training school.

Now that he’s a year old, Blaze returns to Wisconsin this weekend for arson school.

“For 18 different accelerants that he’ll be sniffing, he had to be a year old, a little more mature to start sniffing those,” said Scott.

That should take 6 to 8 weeks to complete. Then he’ll test for his state certifications, both in tracking and arson accelerant detection.

Darrick expects his partner to be ready this summer, and says his partner loves to work.

“When you’re training, you always want to see who can find the victim fastest. We’ve been to a bunch of practices, and he’s holding his own,” said Scott.