2023 Iron Dog Competition

WARREN COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
200 SKYLINE VISTA DRIVE, FRONT ROYAL, VIRGINIA 22630
Mark A. But­ler, Sheriff

---

2023 Iron Dog Competition

---

Front Roy­al- On Octo­ber 21, 2023, the Fauquier K‑9 & Com­mu­ni­ty Orga­ni­za­tion, along­side the esteemed Vir­ginia Police Canine Asso­ci­a­tion, held the 2023 Iron Dog Com­pe­ti­tion at Ket­tle Run High School in Nokesville, Vir­ginia. A total of 33 elite Law Enforce­ment K9 Teams took part in this thrilling event, includ­ing the two excep­tion­al teams from War­ren Coun­ty Sher­if­f’s Office: Sergeant John Gre­go­ry with K9 Roman and Mas­ter Deputy Math­ew Grif­fith with K9 Gator. The rig­or­ous com­pe­ti­tion com­prised a 1.5‑mile course, with mul­ti­ple sta­tions that test­ed the canine teams’ prowess in var­i­ous skills they have been trained for. These sta­tions ranged from Nar­cot­ic Detec­tions to appre­hen­sions, search and clear­ing areas for poten­tial sus­pects, and dis­play­ing obedience.

The Iron Dog Com­pe­ti­tion aims to chal­lenge the canine han­dlers and their impres­sive K‑9s in strength, sta­mi­na, and col­lab­o­ra­tion. The event fea­tured dual-pur­pose canine teams (Patrol/Narcotics and Patrol/Explosives) as well as sin­gle-pur­pose K‑9 teams (Patrol, Nar­cotics, and Explosives).

The War­ren Coun­ty Sher­if­f’s Office takes immense pride in announc­ing that both Sergeant John Gre­go­ry with K9 Roman and Mas­ter Deputy Math­ew Grif­fith with K9 Gator show­cased out­stand­ing per­for­mance dur­ing the com­pe­ti­tion. Sergeant John Gre­go­ry and K9 Roman achieved 3rd place in Agili­ty, 3rd place in Nar­cotics Detec­tion-Vehi­cle Sniff, and 3rd place in the Gun­fire Station.

Heart­felt con­grat­u­la­tions are extend­ed to all par­tic­i­pat­ing canine teams for exem­pli­fy­ing remark­able ded­i­ca­tion and hard work!