Adam Papin/MDN Military Working Dog Manson-Pogo shows off his skills chasing down decoy Senior Airman Valadez during a K9 demonstration marking Military Appreciation Night, hosted by the Minot Hot Tots on Friday.

The Minot Hot Tots honored the men and women in uniform on Friday night, as the team celebrated Military Appreciation Night in from of a sellout crowd at Corbett Field.

“The military means a lot to the community,” said Hot Tots right fielder Brannon Mondragon. “Especially with the air force base being here, this is going to be a really exciting night.”

Hot Tots players donned camo jerseys that were auctioned off to benefit On The Water, Inc., “a nonprofit aiming to help impact the lives of veterans,” according to the Hot Tots.

An Air Force color guard presented the colors during the national anthem, after representatives from several veterans’ organizations threw out ceremonial first pitches.

Fans at the game also got to see military personal from Minot Air Force Base, including the very popular K9 unit from the 5th Security Forces Squadron, who did a number of demonstrations for the crowd at the game.

It can be a long process to become a canine handler. After an airman enlists, he must be a member of the security forces.

“You can go over to the kennel and start volunteering,” said Master Sergeant Michael Urquhart. “If you have the right aptitude and you show initiative and work hard, we’ll end up signing off on you going to canine school.”

All military canine training takes place at Lackland Air Force Base and last approximately three months.

The dogs themselves are developed in two ways, generally starting service around one and a half years old. “It’s very similar to how airmen go through basic training,” said Urquhart. “If they pass, they’ll send them out to us, and we complete their training. Then, they’ll get paired up with a handler. They will go to work when they are about two and a half years old.”

There is also a puppy program that dogs can come out of as well, which is a special breading program within the military at Lackland Air Base. All of the dogs in the program are Belgian Malinois, and the Minot base has one who was at last night’s game.

“He’s one of our puppy program dogs, and the way you’ll know they are in the program is if their name is spelled funny,” said Urquhart. “They have the first two letters in their names as the same letter. So Magoo is typically with one ‘m.’ But his name is Mmagoo.”

The dogs are trained to find various explosives, from military to commercial and homemade. They also perform narcotics detection as well, as well as being patrol certified.

“I want to recognize the team,” said Urquhart. “They pulled a lot of these bits together on fairly short notice. We didn’t finalize anything until we got out here to the field yesterday, but they knocked it out of the park.”

“The umbrella of protection that our guys offer is best anywhere there might be a threat to anyone in the community. We have a hand in keeping them safe.”

The base’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team also was in attendance showcasing some of what they do as well.