There’s a gathering at a local hotel this week with street drugs brought in from all around the state for participants to sniff.

But there’s nothing illegal going on here. The meeting is a way for the state’s police dogs to keep their noses in shape.

Sophie, a bloodhound search dog from the Sedgwick County Emergency Management unit, uses her keen sense of smell to sniff out drugs during a drill in Lawrence. She sharpened her skills Tuesday inside the Masonic Temple, 1101 Mass. The Douglas County Sheriff's Office was host to the event for the Kansas Police Dog Assn.

About 20 police-dog handlers and their dogs are staying at the Lawrence Holidome, 200 McDonald Drive, for a Kansas Police Dog Assn. training event sponsored by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office. One goal of the training is to expose dogs to drugs seized in other parts of the state, which may, especially in the case of methamphetamine, have a different makeup.

“You always want to expose drug dogs to somebody else’s drugs,” said Bryan Martin of the Wichita Police Department.

It’s the first time the group, begun in 1998, has gathered in Lawrence for training. Handlers say it’s critical to keep the dogs’ training up-to-date, in part so they can stand up to legal challenges by defense attorneys.

Officers also compare notes about problems. One of the most common issues is a dog that bites and doesn’t want to let go, Martin said.

Most of the dogs specialize in finding drugs, catching or finding suspects, and protecting their handlers.

On Tuesday afternoon the sound of barking echoed through downtown as the dogs took turns practicing building searches inside the vacant Masonic Temple, 1001 Mass., which owner Doug Compton offered for use.

“We’ll take an agitator-decoy, suit him up and let him go hide in here,” said Corporal Ed Swanson, who handles the Douglas County Sheriff’s German shepherd, Gero.

K-9 units take turns entering the Masonic Temple, where they practice locating a drug house.

Sgt. Chad McCluskey of the Augusta Department of Safety leaned his head in the door and shouted, “Police department canine. Call out your location, or a police dog will be sent in to find you!”

He gave his Belgian Malinois, Basco, a command to bark, then repeated his warning and turned the dog loose. It scampered up some stairs and disappeared.

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Within minutes, the dog barked to signal it had found someone in the otherwise vacant building. Most commonly in these exercises, the person is hiding behind a door. But in this case, McCluskey said, the person was standing out in the open — a change meant to see whether the dogs could handle an unfamiliar situation.

“We change the scenarios up so they know it’s not always going to be the same,” he said.

The three-day training ends today.