 Memorials
to Fallen K-9s
2005-M The F.A.S.T. Co. donates sets of memorial cards to all partners I need your help to inform me of such losses. |
Dept. addresses available for those who want to send condolences to officers. See below
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K-9 MIKKI (SAR) Maascaille's Mad Mikki, FR1, UCD FEMA Basic, Wilderness Prepared Nov. 15, 1989 - July 8, 2005  Handler: Liz Marr need address? After having a wonderful 15th birthday in November and a great winter without any sign of slowing down, Mikki started showing his age about a month ago. He went from "sometimes" needing help to get up, to "always" needing help to get up, to "can't get up" in the progress of four weeks. Towards the end he just slept and would lift his head whenever I moved to see if there was something he was needed for. Last night he looked at me like he was apologizing for not being able to do anything but lay there. I told him it was OK, that I understood. He didn't have to do anything for me, his job was done. I think that he understood because he rested well and even dreamed some and in the morning he was gone. Mikki is the reason to adopt an older dog. He came to me certified FEMA Basic, and with a UKC CD, but this was his second career. His first career was as a police dog. I got him at 8 years old with the blessing of our local Sheriff's Department to train him for Wilderness SAR. I figured what a better way to learn than with a dog that already had a start at what I needed to know. FR-I, I learned more during his brief working career than I had in the previous years. What little work I did with his protection skills, I could tell that by the time he came to live with me he wasn't the greatest bite dog in the world, but he loved to use his nose. I remember one time at a motorcycle rally that he kept sitting beside one motorcycle in particular and looking at me intensely like he expected a reward. It was a different reaction than he had for the motorcycles that had stuffed toys. Without knowing or asking I knew what it was he had found. When I first got him, he loved to rip apart stuffed toys and the first house cat he saw he thought was a stuffed toy. I was able to rescue the cat without major damage and Mikki wore a muzzle while loose in the house for the first month he lived with me. His first reaction to the horse was similar. He went after the horse and tried a full-mouth bite square in the middle of the horse's rear. The horse wasn't impressed and the muzzle went on again. After the horse realized that Mikki couldn't bite him, he proceeded to give Mikki a basic lesson in "leave me alone" which Mikki learned well. I never had problems with cats, horses, or other stock after that first month. Cats and horses aside, Mikki learned his own style of wilderness area search. He never ranged far, but he did a great job of covering and could be trusted. I never did teach him a re-find, but found that because he didn't travel far I was able to hear his bark indication that he learned for USAR for a find. He taught be so much about intense drives and what it means to searching, I wish I could have seen him when he was young. He was so happy to be with me when we rode in the truck that he would sit directly behind me and drop his slobbery tennis ball on my shoulder in such a way that it would roll down my front and often onto the floor and down by my feet. Then he would expect me to toss it back over my should for him to catch and start the whole routine again. Up until a few weeks ago Mikki was still sleeping with a ball in his mouth, and preferred them best if they had been sitting in the water dish for long enough for the water to fill in through the holes he'd created in it. Although Mikki came to me late, I loved him as much as any dog I have raised from a puppy. I would take another "retired" Malinois in an instant if I could. Rest well my friend, you've earned it. Maascaille's Mad Mikki, FR1, UCD FEMA Basic, Wilderness Prepared (Nov. 15, 1989 -July 8, 2005 ) http://spiritbrook.com/Tervuren/mikki.htm submitted by Anne - Lowatchie In Loving
Memory of Drug dog dies from heat exhaustion - By Sue Loughlin Tribune-Star
A
Vigo County Sheriff's Department drug dog died accidentally
from heat exhaustion Tuesday afternoon when the air
conditioning in a Sheriff's Department vehicle quit
working. The dog, Mika, was about 5 years old, said Chief
Deputy Jake Compton. Mika's handler was deputy sheriff
Charlie Funk. "He [Funk] is devastated over it," Compton
said. "He lost his partner and best friend." The Sheriff's
Department investigated and determined the dog's death was
an accident and no disciplinary action is warranted, Compton
said.
Mika died in Funk's Sheriff's Department Trailblazer when Freon leaked out of the air conditioner. A certified auto mechanic inspected the vehicle and found that a tiny hole caused the leak. Mika was the department's only drug dog. Shortly after noon Tuesday, Funk was on Indiana 46 near Riley to assist a stranded motorist; he found a vehicle but no motorist. Funk stopped at a restaurant on Indiana 46 thinking the motorist might have gone there for assistance. While he was there, a man accidentally backed his vehicle into the front of Funk's Trailblazer, doing minor damage to the police vehicle. Funk realized the man appeared to be under the influence of alcohol or having medical difficulties, and another deputy worked the accident because Funk had been involved. The man was taken to the Regional Hospital emergency room and was combative, Compton said. Funk also went inside the hospital but left the air conditioning on and windows up because Mika was in the vehicle. Funk and the other deputy came out several times but never noticed anything wrong with Mika. Funk didn't realize there was a problem until around 3:15 p.m. when he noticed something was wrong with the dog, which was unresponsive. Funk took Mika to a veterinarian, who said Mika likely died from heat exhaustion. At some point that afternoon, the air conditioning had quit working. It was still blowing, but the Freon had escaped. The air conditioning malfunction was not caused by the accident, Compton said. The department has had Mika for several years. Mika's death "is pretty devastating to our department," Compton said. submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA In
Loving Memory of |
