Meet Lake County's top K9 trainer, Alex Rothacker
CHICAGO (CBS) -- For almost 50 years, one man has been the go-to K9 dog trainer for Lake County.
He's turned hundreds of dogs into officers who now serve and protect their communities. CBS 2's Marissa Perlman takes us through a day of training in Grayslake.
At Tops Kennels in Grayslake, it's top training for K9 officers and their handlers. The man behind the extensive six-week training mission is Alex Rothacker.
"How many years have I been training K9s? Since I was 16 years old," Rothacker said. "The only thing they like better than a toy is finding a bad guy."
And now almost 50 years later, known for keeping the county's top K9s, like Officer Dax in shape.
"They help the public save kids. They save people's lives. They save elderly people's lives. People always think of a dog biting (but) they're so much more than that, especially a K9 dog," Rothacker said.
The handlers are put through the ringer, too.
Rothacker said learning to communicate with K9s can be a matter of life or death on the job. He said the goal is to train K9s to be aggressive towards perpetrators.
"Anything with dogs, it's consistency and praise," he said and Rothacker has cracked the code on animal training on all fronts. In fact, drives around with a rescued blue jay on his windshield.
And where the formal training ends, one bite at a time and one step at time, Rothacker takes on another role: Rothacker has set more than 30 Guinness World Records with his own dogs.
This year, he and Pappy the poodle are going for six more. All of them take patience, practice and poise. Rothacker said this double dog duty keeps him going and teaching this old dog new tricks.
Rothacker has trained several K9 officers who have helped in dangerous cases, including Lake County Sheriff K9 Dax, who recently helped catch a home invasion suspect in Gurnee.