TROY, Ala. (TROJANVISION) — Before students arrived on campus, many dorms were already being used by law enforcement officers and their canines.

Police officers and sheriff deputies used the empty campus as a chance to train their canine units.

“Testing our dog’s ability and the handler’s ability to recognize alert behavior from the dog, and just trying to get everybody on the same page, get everybody and their dog better than what they were when they came here,” Troy Police Department K-9 Handler Stephen Eagen said.

Different training locations are used to better prepare both the dogs and their handlers.

“It obviously improves the dog’s understanding of the search,” explained Rowan Godwin, Houston County Sheriff’s Office deputy. “Whether it’s apprehension, searching for narcotics, tracking, whatever it may be, it improves, it reinforces their behaviors. It reinforces their understanding of the matter.

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“Second of all, for the handler, it creates better handlers. You’re going to have better handlers out here on the street.”

Hiding locations are limitless.

“We’ve had hides deep in closets,” Eagen told TrojanVision. “We’ve had hides in boxes, trash cans, anywhere we think someone might try to hide something we’re looking for.”

This isn’t the first time the university has been used as a training space for police K-9s. Officers and deputies were on campus last summer at the invitation of University Police Chief George Beaudry. Beaudry has years of experience as a canine handler in his time working at the K-9 unit of Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.