Gunny poses with his owner Sean O’Brien, UTC’s police chief. Photo by Angela Foster.
Meet Gunther—also known as Gunny—the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s first chief canine officer.
Gunny is a German shorthaired pointer, born in Hungary at a kennel known for breeding hunting dogs.
These days, his title at UTC is mostly honorary, but you may have spotted him around campus alongside UTC Police Chief Sean O’Brien.
Their partnership began years ago when O’Brien was a lieutenant with the Chattanooga Police Department. A Department of Homeland Security grant funded the purchase of a Vapor Wake–trained K-9.
Vapor Wake, a scientifically based canine detection method, is an approach that trains dogs to track the scent trail left in the air by a person carrying explosives or other contraband materials.
“I went down to the training facility in Anniston, Alabama, and the first dog they paired me up with was a cute little black lab from Brazil,” said O’Brien. “She was a sweet pet, but I’m like, ‘Hey, this is not going to work. The environment that I will be working in around large crowds and searching in the woods … this dog won’t work.’
“They were like, ‘We only have one dog in the kennel and it’s very high energy.’”
O’Brien wanted to see the dog anyway. He quickly realized “high energy” may have been an understatement.
“The instructor actually had two leashes on him,” he said. “They’re like, ‘We don’t know if you can handle this.’ I said, ‘Listen, I’ve worked with four other dogs. Give me the leash.’ From there, it was on.”
Now, at 6 years old, Gunny has a much calmer demeanor. He’s often found sitting quietly with a toy in his mouth or leaning against someone’s leg to ask for attention.
Don’t misjudge him, though. With a list of accomplishments under his collar, Gunny is anything but lazy.
O’Brien recalled one of Gunny’s first major successes. It involved a stolen car that “shots-fired” suspects had dumped before escaping into the woods.
“We were thinking there was probably a gun in the woods,” he said. “We go into the woods and we’re in a gully. It just so happened the breeze was coming in across the gully enough that (Gunny) stuck his nose up above the ridge and took off.
“He went about 75 yards, puts his nose on something and he sits. It was the key fob from the car, which had gunpowder residue on it from when they discharged the firearm in the car at somebody.
“It was then that I knew: This dog is awesome.”
He recalled another situation where a shooting suspect crashed on the interstate. Witnesses saw the suspect throwing things down a hill, so O’Brien and Gunny were called to the scene.
They searched the bottom of the hill, but Gunny alerted them to a bush in a different area.
“I’m like, ‘No, no, no. We want to check this whole side of the hill over here,’” O’Brien said. “We go for about 35 minutes and I put him up. I’m like, ‘Man, we haven’t found anything.’ The other officers were ready to go.”
He decided to give it another try, letting Gunny lead the way.
“I gave him enough freedom on a long line that he goes right up to the bush, puts his head in the bush and then sits there,” he said. “There was the gun. The suspect had run down there and placed it in the bush and then ran back up to where his car had crashed.
“If I had listened to him the first time, we would have already found it and been on our way home. But Gunny knew.”
There are several similar stories that involve Gunny’s powerful nose. In total, he recovered approximately 150 firearms before retiring in late 2023 after a cancerous tumor was discovered.
Thankfully, it was successfully removed and Gunny is in good health.
This transition from “working dog” to “pet” moved O’Brien’s responsibility from “handler” to “dog dad.”
It didn’t take too much adjusting, however, because Gunny was used to living at home with O’Brien.
“He was unique in that he specifically was intended to be socialized around humans,” he explained, “which was the reason for having him in the house with six cats.”
Yes, O’Brien and his wife, Janet, are proud owners of six cats—and one Gunny, of course.
“In the house, he pays no mind to them,” O’Brien said. “Out and about? Oh no. He’s very interested in cats, just like squirrels.”
Although retired, Gunny’s instincts haven’t gone away. O’Brien said he doesn’t intentionally use Gunny in working situations anymore, but he still pays attention to his behavior—just in case.
“Anytime he sees an officer, right away he’ll go up to their gun and smell,” O’Brien said. “That’s half the reason why, when he’s here, I just let him have the toy, so he’s not as interested in searching. Otherwise, he’d be alerting all the time.”
Even at home, Gunny has had moments that remind O’Brien of his former job. He recalled a recent moment when Gunny entered the room while his wife was cleaning lenses. Gunny began air scenting and eventually fixated on a bottle of cleaner.
“I gave him his search command,” he recalled, “and he starts working and comes right up next to the bottle. It had 3% hydrogen peroxide—something they’re trained to alert on and is often used in explosives. I’m like, ‘Yeah, you’ve still got it.’”
Though his detection days are mostly behind him, Gunny still draws a crowd, especially on campus.
O’Brien said that bringing Gunny to work was something he had hoped to do when he started at UTC in 2024 as associate vice chancellor for public safety and police chief, but he wanted to see how the students would react.
“One day I walked across campus in uniform, and you couldn’t get any of the kids to talk to me,” he said. “The next day, same time, same route, I walked across campus with him and it was the complete opposite.”
Now, he brings Gunny with him a couple of times a week. The reception is so positive that O’Brien is now hoping to secure funding for a designated support or facilities dog.
The goal would be to have a trained dog on campus specifically to “make those connections” and “provide some stress relief,” according to O’Brien.
Gunny may be off duty, but he is filling that role in his own way as “chief.” He even has his own badge and staff page.
“He’s a softie at heart,” O’Brien said.
“The first thing people notice is the dog,” he added with a laugh. “They’re like, ‘Oh, I know that dog.’ And then they’ll be like, ‘Oh, hey Sean, how are you?’”
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UTC Department of Public Safety
The people of UTC: Get to know Sean O’Brien
