K9 Duke – Wheeling, Illinois

Died – 11/2/15
Handler – officer Jeremy Hoffman

Four months into retirement, K9 Duke has died

Just four months into his retirement, Duke, the Wheeling Police Department’s longtime K-9, died Monday.Duke served the department with his handler, officer Jeremy Hoffman, for nine years. The German shepherd retired in July and would have turned 11 on Dec. 12. “He just loved to work. He didn’t want to retire,” Hoffman said. “It took him a couple months to get used to not going to work with me.” Hoffman says Duke whined for hours after he would leave the house in his uniform without bringing Duke along. “He’d see the uniform and put two and two together. Sometimes I’d have to leave the house with a jacket on so he wouldn’t know where I was going,” he said. Duke suffered from degenerative myelopathy, the dog version of multiple sclerosis, which affected his brain and spine. “It got to a point where we had to do everything for him. He couldn’t walk,” Hoffman said. And while Duke went to work with Hoffman every day since April 2006, and even helped track a major marijuana shipment sent to a Wheeling trucking company from Texas, he left his job behind when he and Hoffman got home. “Once we got home he would never bark, and he wasn’t aggressive,” Hoffman said. “He really knew the difference between work and home.”

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Submitted By Jim Cortina

James A. Cortina has been involved with police dogs since 1972 and currently on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Jim has been appointed as Treasurer since its inception in 1991. Jim is one of the charter members of the C.P.W.D.A. organization. Since 1975 he has been a certified professional dog trainer and received his Master Trainer Certification in 1985. During his career he has provided armed K-9 strike crowd control for security agencies in Connecticut and out of state security companies. In conjunction with other members of the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Board of Directors, he helped to draft Connecticut Statute 53-247(e) "Intentional Injury or Killing of Police K-9" which was passed by the Senate in 1993 and also assisted in implementing the prestigious Daniel Wasson Memorial K-9 Award in 1992. In 1993 he helped coordinate the North American Police Work Dog Association Nationals in New London, Connecticut. He was appointed Training Director for the New London County Work Dog Association from 1985-1987. He performed decoy work for Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. in police K-9 demonstrations, trained several local police department canines, and coordinated training workshops for out-of-state police departments. He participated in the United States Police K-9 Association Trials in Croton on Hudson, New York in 1985 as a decoy. He is an avid photographer and received photography awards in 1989, 1990, and 1991 and currently takes photographs for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc.
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