LA County Sheriff has a new deputy dog in town

He’s only 17-months-old and about 2-feet-tall, but Johnny Ringo received his first detective badge as the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department’s latest “$10,000” deputy dog.

Johnny, a jet black labrador retriever from Holland, is the first such dog in the country that can detect chemical and biological weapons.

“With their acute sense of smell, these canines can detect odors with concentrations 100 million times lower than humans,” said L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, as he introduced Johnny at a press conference at the department’s Monterey Park headquarters.

Work Dogs International, a company that supplies certified bomb dogs to law enforcement agencies, sold Johnny to the department for $10,000. He’s one of 50 L.A. County Sheriff’s Department dogs working around the department. Other dogs work in units such as homicide, narcotics, jails, explosives, guns, transit services, and search and rescue.

Johnny was named after the notorious drifter who went up against Wyatt Earp in the Wild West of the U.S. in the late 1800s.

L.A. County Sheriff’s Detective Wayne Carpini, a hazardous materials specialist with the Sheriff’s Department, and Johnny’s handler, trained with his charge for six weeks at the Work Dog International’s Texas facility.

Before boot camp, they spent two weeks getting to know each other.

“We bonded on the drive to Texas,” said Carpini. “I even put him on the front seat because I was lonely. And in the hotel it was just him and me for six weeks … ”

With 235 hours of training and 89 hours of K9 handling training behind him, Carpini had the knowledge and confidence to manage his charge.

The most useful advice — “trust your dog.”

Johnny's always on the go.

“He has a high drive … he would play instead of eat … he would chase a toy all day long. If I threw the toy over a ledge, he would go there to get it," Carpini said. "That’s what makes these dogs different… they won’t slow down.”

A typical day for the duo begins at 4 a.m.

They usually train in the L.A. County Sheriff’s K9 training field, unless they’re out walking the beat on the streets of L.A. County. Carpini gives Johnny commands in German. When Johnny detects an unusual scent, his body behavior changes. That’s when Carpini pulls him back and checks out the area himself.

Carpini and Johnny are always on duty.

They walked the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. They’ll be out this Sunday, patrolling the 67th Golden Globe Awards in Hollywood.