Introducing Lucky, UTC’s newest therapy dog and future explosives detection K-9

Lucky, UTC's newest police K-9, reaches up to lick Sgt. Aaron Bayer's cheek as the two pose together on campus.

UTC Police Sgt. Aaron Bayer will serve as Lucky’s handler. Photo by Angela Foster.

It’s official: Lucky, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s newest K-9, is here to stay.

Lucky, a six-month-old Labrador Retriever, began his full-time job in the UTC Police Department on Oct. 15.

Like Sophie, who was introduced last year as UTC’s first working K-9, Lucky will serve as a campus therapy dog. In addition, he will train to become an explosive ordnance detection (EOD) dog to detect explosive devices.

UTC Sgt. Aaron Bayer, the man on the other side of the leash, will work with Lucky as his handler. Sophie will be in the care of UTC Police Cpl. Ginger Dockery.

“It’s hard to imagine coming to work without Sophie,” said Bayer, who oversees K-9 and community engagement. “She’s become such a big part of my life in such a short amount of time. I’m going to miss having her beside me every day, but I know she’s going to be just fine.”

Dockery became emotional when she talked about taking on the role as Sophie’s handler.

“This is surreal for me,” Dockery said. “She is already a queen around here and I’m really excited to have her and to be working with Sgt. Bayer in community engagement.”

UTC Police Cpl. Ginger Dockery poses with Sophie while Sgt. Aaron Bayer holds Lucky on a tree-lined campus walkway.

Cpl. Ginger Dockery with Sophie (left) and Sgt. Aaron Bayer with Lucky

Lucky will take on many of the same responsibilities as Sophie, attending campus and community events and working with the UTC Counseling Center to comfort students.

The idea of adding another K-9, Bayer said, came soon after Sophie’s arrival.

“This will be around the one-year anniversary of having Sophie here,” he said. “The timing is incredible. We’retaking the success that we had for Sophie and doubling down on it by introducing Lucky.”

Bayer said that the excitement about Sophie never “phased out.” She is recognized by almost everyone across campus and even around town. She is also a hit on social media.

“It hasn’t slowed a day since. Even over the summer when the kids aren’t in school, we’re off campus and people all over the community are asking for her,” he said.

The UTC Police Department adopted “connection and detection” as the theme of its K-9 initiative.

Bayer said Sophie has helped meet a need they knew existed but didn’t always see up close. He expects Lucky to do the same.

“We know that loneliness is an issue on campus with people that come here from out of state or even across town,” he explained. “Sophie has really gravitated towards those kids and given them something to rally around. Sophie is always there for them. I don’t know how to even describe it. It’s one of the most interesting parts of connections I think we’ve noticed.”

Three students pet Sophie, UTC’s black Labrador retriever therapy dog, on a campus sidewalk surrounded by colorful fall foliage.

Sophie enjoying pets from students.

Detection is the other side of Lucky’s future responsibilities.

“How do we tie together the best of both worlds?” Bayer said. “How do we still build connection with our students, but also utilize that dog for something greater?”

UTC Chief of Police Sean O’Brien is familiar with explosives-detection K-9s from his work in the Chattanooga Police Department. It’s how he got to know Gunny, a retired police dog and UTC’s other beloved K-9.

The campus community may never have seen or heard of the behind-the-scenes work that keeps them safe, especially before big events with large crowds.

“Often, when we have a large-scale event, we will ask the city’s bomb squad to come in and do that sweep with us,” O’Brien explained. “They only have two EOD K-9s, so there is a frequent demand for that type of K-9work.”

That demand extends to the surrounding community, including local K-12 schools, sporting events and other gatherings that may require explosives detection.

“We will support the city when they have a need for additional explosives detection dogs because there’s just not very many of them,” O’Brien said. “Often, the city will have to outsource to a different agency coming from some significant distance.

“By having one ourselves, we can support the city and be good partners with the city on these types of needs as they come along.”

Lucky will likely be fully trained in explosives detection by next spring. For now, he will continue learning his therapy dog duties on campus.

He comes to UTC with plenty of training already under his collar. Lucky was born at Warrior Paws, a nonprofit operated by Rucker Retrievers Dog Training in Cumming, Georgia. Rucker Retrievers also trained Sophie.

A man wearing a black T-shirt and shorts stands on a campus walkway between UTC police K-9s Lucky and Sophie, both wearing police harnesses.

Scot Rucker

Owned by Scot Rucker, Warrior Paws trains service and therapy dogs for veterans and first responders.

“A therapy dog is a dog that loves to be petted on and is obedient,” Rucker explained. “We teach them different tasks for when they are in forensic interviews. We’ll have dogs come over, put their head in their laps, and apply pressure to their knees.”

Rucker brought Lucky to campus a week before his arrival for a “sleepover.”

“I enjoy this part because I’m getting to see my dogs go on and give back to the community,” he said. “Pets are great and I have a lot of pet parents that do a great job with their dogs, but this is different.”

Lucky and Sophie are just the beginning of something that the UTC Police Department hopes to continue for a long time.

“We want to build a legacy, so to speak,” Bayer said. “We want to keep it going over and over again so that when a dog retires, we’re ready to bring in another.”

UTC Police officers are there for the campus community, whether that means responding to a crisis or offering a friendly face. Bayer and O’Brien said that K-9s help make that connection easier.

“I often talk about bridging potential gaps in connecting, especially with our young students,” O’Brien said. “If we get those touch points with a dog, then we’re building these relationships and we really are seeing the value of it only a year in with Sophie.”

Bayer thought back to the time before Sophie and Lucky.

“The police department existed in a vacuum,” he said. “People didn’t know we even existed. Now, Sophie and I—or another representative of the UTC Police Department—are now everywhere. We’re all over the county.

“Sometimes, it’s the first time people have ever seen a UTC police car or an officer there. It’s pretty cool.”

After a year of getting to know Sophie and finding his footing in community policing alongside her, Bayer said he is excited to begin a new chapter with Lucky.

“I’ve really had to step up and lock in to figure out how to take her to the next level, take myself to the next level,” he said. “A lot of it has been done through trial and error and just me figuring it out.

“I’m excited about the new challenge, and getting to experience it with Lucky.”