Morris County Sheriff's Office K-9 Detective Corporal Michael McMahon To Be Featured On A&E Network's "America's Top Dog" Series
Published on November 25, 2019
A master dog trainer, Morris County Sheriff's Office K-9 Section Detective Corporal Michael McMahon is making his television debut as a contestant on the A&E Network's ultimate K-9 competition series called America's Top Dog.
Morris County Sheriff's Office Detective Corporal Michael McMahon and his K-9 partner Kaiser.
Detective Corporal McMahon and his K-9 partner Kaiser, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, traveled earlier this year to Los Angeles for the high-velocity competition that brought together top-notch K-9 Officers and dogs on what is billed as the ultimate K-9 obstacle course.
The America's Top Dog series, from MGM's Big Fish Entertainment, will premiere Wednesday, January 8 at 9 p.m. ET. Viewers will be held in suspense until the final, 11th episode as to which team fetched Top Dog honors.
Kaiser is the son of Detective Corporal McMahon's first patrol dog, K-9 Ronan, who also served the Morris County Sheriff's Office.
Being part of the show was an awesome experience. My family and I are very excited about its release, Detective Corporal McMahon said.
Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon said the entire Agency is thrilled about Detective Corporal McMahon's participation, and how it illustrates his skills as a K-9 handler.
Detective Corporal McMahon is an incredible asset to this Office and to the residents of all municipalities in Morris County with whom we share the K-9 Section services. He forges unbreakable bonds with the dogs and has complete command of them in all aspects of the job. We are all rooting for Detective Corporal McMahon and Kaiser to win the competition, Sheriff Gannon said.
We are extremely fortunate to have Mike's talent and heart in our Agency, said Morris County Undersheriff Mark Spitzer.
Morris County Sheriff's Office K-9 Section Detective Corporal Michael McMahon and his partner Kaiser.
The series is hosted by veteran sports broadcaster Curt Menefee alongside expert dog trainer Nick White, with sideline reporting by sports reporter and animal rescue ambassador Jamie Little.
In each one hour episode of America's Top Dog, four police K-9 teams, including fan-favorites from the hit series Live PD, and one civilian team will face off for the title of Top Dog in three rounds of competition.
The teams are tested on their speed, agility, scenting ability and teamwork by completing a series of tasks on one of the largest and toughest K-9 obstacle courses ever assembled, which was designed to mimic real-life challenges that K-9 heroes face every day.
The teams have to navigate a complicated maze to find scented items and apprehend and takedown a suspect in a bite suit.
Before he joined the Morris County Sheriff's Office in July 2011, Detective Corporal McMahon attended the Tom Rose School for Dog Trainers in St. Louis, Missouri. After a year of study that focused on training and handling both working and pet dogs, he graduated at the top of the class from both the Professional and Master Dog Training programs.
Upon graduation, Detective Corporal McMahon and his wife, Michelle, started their own dog training business where they trained, bred and sold both pet and working dogs.
After graduating the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy in 2011, he was assigned to the Emergency Services Section as a K-9 handler. In 2015, he was promoted to the rank of Detective Corporal and assigned as the Corporal of the K-9 Section.
Detective Corporal McMahon has trained and certified numerous dogs in all aspects of K-9 and earned the title of K-9 trainer in December of 2016. He later earned the title of Supervising K-9 Trainer. He also is one of the primary K-9 handlers for the Sheriff's Emergency Response Team (SERT).