Lance Corporal Averi Lavoie is from a small town near Charlotte, North Carolina and is a K9 handler with the Marine Corps Police Department K9 Unit at Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany.
“I did not want to be a Marine. I did not want to join this branch of service at all. It was my last choice until I went to the recruiting officer for the Marine Corps in North Carolina, and I met with a recruiter, and I ended sitting down and talking with them for about three hours. I believe and he just talked me through everything,” says Lavoie.
Lavoie says that she knew she wanted to go into law enforcement and that she wanted to do K9. The recruiter told her that being military police would not be easy.
After getting on a fast track through everything and after completing a year of training at both Fort Leonard Wood and Military Working Dog Handler Course at United States Air Force Technical Training School at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, Lavioe was stationed at MCLB Albany, where she met her Military Working Dog Leny.
Lavoie and Leny have been working together a little over a month and their first goal together is to validate and certify as a dog team. Whether it is taking walks, doing hunting drills or even just putting his kennel in her office so that they are together, Lavoie says that she is spending most of her time with Leny because for training, the more the dog gets to see you, the faster they will bond with you.
Lt. Tonette Allen, MWD kennel master, MCLB Albany, says that “Military Working Dogs possess advanced senses of sight, smell, and hearing, providing strong detection capabilities. Paired with obedience and patrol training, they act as an effective physical and psychological deterrent, significantly boosting the commander’s ability to protect forces and assets on an installation. MWD handlers are a critical need on an installation, as they maximize the use of these capabilities in areas such as explosive and drug detection, search and rescue, and perimeter security, further enhancing overall operational effectiveness.”
“I think there’s no better best friend or partner you can have than a K9. I think they’re more than reliable, more than any person you could encounter, and you know they’re always going to be willing to put their life on the line for you,” adds Lavoie.
For others that are looking for a similar role, Lavoie says that you must put in the work and energy because for a lot of the dogs, rapport is everything and if they do not know you, they do not trust you, they won’t bond with you so, remember to be patient, that’s everything.