Died – 4\/18\/20
\nHandler – Sgt. Matthew Hricko.<\/p>\n
Fort Bend County Sheriff\u2019s Office mourns death of beloved K9 officer<\/p>\n
During his service as a deputy in the Fort Bend County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Officer Mike located more than $17,000,000 worth of street drugs and assisted in 300 arrests- and he did it all with a cheerful attitude and wagging tail. Mike was a K9 officer with the sheriff\u2019s office. On Saturday, four years after his retirement, he died at the age of 13. \u201cK9 Mike was a respected member of the sheriff\u2019s office for many years,\u201d said Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls. \u201cWe\u2019re appreciative of the contribution to public safety provided by Mike, as well as all our K9s.\u201dAll the officers mourn Mike\u2019s loss- but most especially his handler, Sgt. Matthew Hricko. Mike, a Belgian Malinois, joined the sheriff\u2019s office when he was a year old, and he lived with Hricko through his service and retirement. \u201cHe was really an amazing dog,\u201d Hricko reflected. \u201cHe was the smartest dog I\u2019d ever met, but he was so gentle. He was just a great, great dog.\u201d Mike had two jobs, and he excelled at both. He was a single purpose narcotics detection dog, meaning he located illegal substances but did not participate in criminal pursuit. Hricko noted that Mike won several narcotics detection competitions and took third place in the National Narcotic Detector Dog competition. \u201cHe had the most incredible nose,\u201d said Hricko. \u201cHe made me look good.\u201d Mike\u2019s second job was an unofficial position, but he took it just as seriously. Mike delighted children when the sheriff\u2019s office visited schools. \u201cHe did probably over 1,000 presentations for elementary schools and Cub Scout groups,\u201d Hricko recalled. Hricko noted that not all dogs are suited to both police duty and interactions with children. Many dogs that excel at narcotics detection don\u2019t do well with kids. Mike was not one of those dogs. \u201cBesides doing all those narcotics, he was such a friendly dog. All the kids could pet him. He\u2019d just run down the row, and all the kids would pet him.\u201d Hricko\u2019s own 5-month-old daughter constantly interacted with Mike. \u201cWe never worried about her. He was so gentle with her,\u201d Hricko said. After Mike retired, he continued to live with Hricko\u2019s family. The Hrickos adopted shelter dogs, and Mike helped with their training. \u201cThey learned so much just from watching him,\u201d Hricko said. At one point, the Hrickos fostered a litter of puppies The puppies never irritated Mike. \u201cHe would sit there with all these puppies running around him,\u201d Hricko recalled, \u201cYou would think as an old retired police dog, he would have been agitated, but he let them climb on him and everything.\u201d Hricko lamented the loss of his beloved dog, but he believes that Mike has crossed the Rainbow Bridge- a reference to a poem of the same name that describes an other-worldly place where pets go upon death, eventually to be reunited with their owners. Hricko was able to find a bright side in the death of his hard-working hound who loved sniffing out criminal drug dealers. \u201cHis loss is hard for us, but I know he\u2019s chasing (drugs) on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge,\u201d Hricko laughed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Died – 4\/18\/20 Handler – Sgt. Matthew Hricko. Fort Bend County Sheriff\u2019s Office mourns death of beloved K9 officer During his service as a deputy in the Fort Bend County Sheriff\u2019s Office, Officer Mike located more than $17,000,000 worth of street drugs and assisted in 300 arrests- and he did it all with a cheerful …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[22],"class_list":["post-8369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-k9memorial","tag-tx"],"yoast_head":"\n