Pawnee, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Ground has officially been broken on a K-9 training facility at Illinois State Police‘s training center and shooting range outside Pawnee.

State Police Director Brendan Kelly says it will replace a 30 year old facility there, and the dogs deserve it, given training for them and their trooper handlers has changed over the years.

“The relationship between a K-9 handler and a K-9, it’s something that’s very powerful; it’s almost magical, the relationship that they have,” said Kelly.  “The K-9 is an extremely powerful tool, and they exercise this public safety tool with an extreme amount of discipline and control.”

Kelly says it’s almost more dangerous for a K-9 to be out on a call than a trooper or police officer.  The facility will train both state and local police K-9’s.

And while the work for K-9’s can sometimes be as grueling for them as it is for troopers, sometimes, it’s not so bad.

“(During a call in Southern Illinois several years ago), there was a foot pursuit, and one of the troopers had dropped his keys somewhere in the field…so, they decided ‘Let’s get a K-9 out here,'” said Kelly.  “The K-9 got a sniff…and it was like watching a heat-seeking missile go through the various movements of that officer, and then circle around and sit right on where those keys were in a field with tall grass.”

State Police K-9’s are called upon to work during drug arrests, incidents were fleeing criminals need to be captured, bomb-sniffing incidents, and other tasks, said Kelly.

The new facility is expected to have larger office space, more training space, and up to 20 kennels in it for dogs who will be staying there.

Ground was actually broken Monday on the nearly $9 million dollar project, and officials say it should be complete sometime in December.