Pamplona, Spain, may have the annual running of the bulls, but this year Heidelberg, U.S.A., had the running of the dogs.

Police dogs from communities in Allegheny, Beaver and Washington counties took to the streets of Heidelberg with their handlers Oct. 1 for a brisk mile-and-a-half morning run.

The scene was more orderly than the running of the bulls in Pamplona, where people frantically dash in front of stampeding bulls to avoid being gored or trampled.

All of the K-9s were on leashes and wore muzzles as they jogged on Industry Way and along Ellsworth Avenue before making a full circle and ending back on Industry to finish where they started -- at the new Heidelberg community park.

After a short rest, the K-9 teams began an intense daylong training session that included obedience lessons, drug detection and bite training.

Pittsburgh Police Sgt. Chris Micknowski, who is in charge of training at the Pittsburgh Police K-9 Academy, said the run has a purpose beyond helping the officers and dogs stay in shape.

"The dogs are fairly young and, like children, they have a lot of excess energy. The run tires them out a little bit and makes them easier to control and focused on the obedience training," he said.

That's just one of the insights into K-9 training that the Pittsburgh academy has gleaned over the years.

The Pittsburgh school on Washington Boulevard is the second oldest K-9 academy in the country, Sgt. Micknowski said. It was founded in November 1958, just a few months after a K-9 academy was started in Baltimore, Md.

"This November, we'll celebrate our 50th anniversary," he said.

While the main focus of the academy is training dogs for the Pittsburgh Police Department, he said, the school also performs an important training and consulting role for outside police departments.

The eight dogs, all German shepherds, except for one Belgian Malinois named Bobbi, who is handled by Pittsburgh police Officer Larry Mercurio, came to Heidelberg at the invitation of Heidelberg police Chief Vernon Barkley.

They are part of a training class now under way at the academy that is scheduled to finish in early December. Heidelberg's first-ever police dog, Rocky, who is handled by Officer Dennis Dixon, is in the class.

In addition to Officer Mercurio, the others in the class are Officers Ron Abstein and Cathy Swearingen, of the Pittsburgh Police Department; Officer Larry Maraldo, of the Monongahela City Police Department; Deputy James Brown, of the Beaver County Sheriff's Department; and Deputy Fran Willison, of the Allegheny County Sheriff's Department. The instructors are Dan Tice and Ken Sowinski, officers from the Pittsburgh Police Department.

"We're focused on city police work in an urban setting, but some of the dogs will be working in a suburban or even rural setting, so we don't want them to be used to only one type of environment," Sgt. Micknowski said.

Heidelberg fit the bill. It offered a park, tree-lined suburban streets, a vacant house to practice search techniques, an industrial site and the wooded banks of Chartiers Creek, where the dogs could practice.

As the dogs performed their obedience training at the park, receiving commands in their native languages of Czech and German from their handlers, the sound of a crane operating at a nearby pipe plant was part of the background noise, but Sgt. Micknowksi said the sound served a training purpose they couldn't duplicate at the academy.

"Outside noises, especially ones that are unfamiliar to them -- like the crane -- shouldn't affect or bother them. We need the dogs to focus on what they're doing. That's one reason training outside the academy is important."

During bite training, Officer Mercurio had the unfortunate assignment of donning a bite suit and letting the dogs take turns using him as a chew toy as they learned the best way to quickly subdue a suspect.

The canines tackled drug training by trying to find small amounts of heroin, marijuana and cocaine wrapped in aluminum foil and concealed in pipes and rubber hoses.

The officers hid the drugs in a variety of locations, including industrial pipes and clumps of brush and weeds, but despite the best efforts of the officers at concealment, the dogs honed in on the drugs like heat-seeking missiles.

"To the dogs, it's fun. They learn to think of the hidden objects as toys. Every time the dog puts one in his mouth, the odor is imprinted in his brain," Sgt. Micknowski said.

"Just as officers train together for mutual aid, SWAT teams and paddy wagon duty, the K-9 training is no different. We want the dogs to be able to work together as a team," Sgt. Micknowski said. He cited examples of crowd control, massive drug searches and disasters that require coordinated searches for survivors as the types of scenarios in which the dogs would work together.

"This class has been very good in that regard," he said.

The sight of the dogs training in the park attracted one Heidelberg resident, Cathy Karbowski, who stopped to talk with the officers during a rest break. She said she owns a dog and is a K-9 advocate.

"I'm thrilled that the police department now has a police dog. I love it and feel safer now that the dog is here," she said.

Heidelberg Chief Barkley said residents have been largely supportive of Rocky and Officer Dixon and some make donations of up to $350 to support the K-9 unit.

"One resident said, 'If you need more money, let me know' after making a donation for the dog," Chief Barkley said.