Her favorite food is fried chicken, although she is served and devours most of the healthy food groups for mealtimes.

Her favorite treat is beef jerky, which is tried and tested from among may other retail treats.

Her miraculous sense of smell enables her to locate drugs from distances and through deep waters.  Some of her disguised discoveries are marijuana, Hydrocodone She sits rather than speaks, thus alerting her master (Deffendoll) that she has found any variety of drugs using her, codeine, drinking alcohol, Fentanyl, Demerol, along with many additional traceable narcotic pain killers.  Adding to the list is heroin, Xanax, Xylazine and methamphetamine.  When she finds an illicit drug, she will sit at the place where it is found. This is her way of alerting Deffendoll that she has successfully found what she was commandeered to search for – illicit drugs.

Her tri-yearly molars are capable of chewing almost anything, including crackers and pebble stones and you!

She is an intelligent, yet loving, German Shepherd K-9 officer within the Alexandria Police Department in Tennessee.  She is the only K-9 working in the county, although there have been a few male and female canine officers employed in Smithville throughout the past years.  I, especially, remember Astro, a Belgin Malinois breed also used as a K-9 officer in Smithville.  Manci and Deffendoll are each certified through the National Narcotics Detector Dog Association (NNDDA) and Drug Beat Canine.  They train weekly and have become a valuable asset to the entire community and county.  Officer Manci has an ‘excellent track record’ in locating and recovering the illegal pharmaceuticals in Alexandria,” said Deffendoll last week.

Her birth name is “Manci,” which translates in English as a “plucked flower.”  Additionally, it is a Native American name associated with the Hope Indian tribe. She was named before her semi-lengthy journey to DeKalb County, Tennessee three-months-ago.