Fifteen police canines and their handlers pitted skills and training in a number of competitive events at the K-9 trials hosted by Salisbury Township Police Department at the Salisbury High School athletic field Sept. 27.

Teams were entered from Allentown, Whitehall, Salisbury and Lower Saucon townships in the Lehigh Valley, as well as teams from Reading area law enforcement agencies in Berks County and from the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office in Maryland.

Competitive events included categories of obedience and agility, drug detection, an obstacle course, a fastest dog competition, a perpetrator extraction from a vehicle event and a “call-off’” that measured a canine’s call-off obedience after being dispatched to capture a decoy in a bite suit.

Ron Angst, of Bangor, was the volunteer in the protective bite suit. He said he has been involved in police canine training activities for 20 years and he is comfortable being a decoy on the receiving end of a charging police canine.

A sizable crowd of spectators enjoyed watching the competition, and many being from Salisbury Township, it was clear Salisbury Police Department canine officer Jason Laky and K-9 Fonzie were the hometown favorites among the competitors.