Meet El Chuco 2026 K9 Competition’s Top Dog team

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Friday, working police K9 teams competed to put their skills and training to the test. El Paso County law enforcement agencies took the top three places.

At the El Paso County Coliseum, 42 K9 teams raced against the clock to see who the top dog is. Teams from El Paso, Mexico and New Mexico participated in narcotics detection.

John Deanda and K9 Adu from the El Paso Independent School District Police Department earned the Top Dog title after Friday's competition.

El Paso Police Department's Sergeant J. Frayre and K9 Sarge took second place. Socorro Police Department Officer Ivan Sosa and K9 Mala took third.

The El Paso County Sheriff's Office hosted the El Chuco 2026 K9 Competition. Deputy Raymundo Munoz said the number of participating teams doubled compared to last year's competition.

While teams compete, they also learn from each other. Munoz said the competition is an opportunity for agencies to learn how they train differently and improve based on what they learn.

"We want to know how they trained. Of course we could. All the instructors, all the judges, we get together to improve everyone's performance, all the canine teams throughout, not only here in the United States, but also in Mexico," Munoz said.

Munoz said the teams had to navigate two challenges: one involving vehicle searching and one involving a scattered search area. The teams had three minutes to find as many items as they could. Teams earned their scores based on accuracy.

EPCSO started the competition after seeing an agency host a similar one in Brownsville, Texas, according to Munoz.