Canines and their human partners who pass the initial selection process undergo a full ten week training course before assignment to the unit. The starting age of the average police service dog is 15 months. The average career
for our dogs is six years. Upon ending his career, the canine is allowed to live in "retirement" with his handler.
     Our canines aid patrol officers in many aspects. These include: building searches, area searches, tracks and article searches.  Some of the dogs are trained in narcotics and explosives detection. For information on a demonstration for your school or organization contact us at 574-235-5858 ext 2148 and you will be directed to the personnel responsible for scheduling these demonstrations.
+++++++++Article published Jan 17, 2006
Police officer's buddy K-9 dies
Hans would tackle anything but a hose. Hans, the K-9 police dog, was deathly scared of running water.  "If a bad guy had picked up a garden hose instead of a gun, he could probably have held off Hans," says South Bend police,
 Officer Steve Spadafora, Hans' longtime partner.  A hose, maybe.  But not a gun or a club or a brutal kick
 or a round-house punch or even somebody's best bite.
"Yeah, there was one time we had a guy who even tried to bite Hans when Hans got to him," Steve admits.  Man bites dog. Man then bites the dust. In the end, Hans was always there to help Steve take a bite out of crime. "Any accolades I have gotten (like being named South Bend's police officer of the year in 2001) was largely because of my little buddy, Hans," Steve says. "He deserved the honors as much as I did."  Steve figures that Hans, his partner for almost 10 years, saved his life at least once, including when he grabbed the arm of a man who had aimed a
 gun at Steve. "And there was another time that a bad guy fired three times at Hans almost from point blank range."  Hans kept on coming. Only a squirt gun might have held him off. "I don't know what it was about Hans and running water," Steve adds with a smile.  Earlier this month, tears were running when Steve and his family buried Hans out at the K-9 training area. "He would have been 11 years old on Feb. 11, so he lived a pretty good life, but he really didn't get much of a chance to enjoy retirement," Steve says. "We all loved him. He was family."
Hans retired in August with a ceremony and salutations. He was replaced by Steve's new partner, Fritz,
 another German shepherd.   He then stayed home with Steve's wife, Dena, and their children, 8-year-old Sasha
 and 6-year-old Stevie. "I know it was tough on Hans when I would go off to work with Fritz," Steve says.
 "When I would put on my uniform, he still figured it was time for him to go, too.  "It was also hard on me.
 It was the end of an era for both of us."  Hans began following Dena around the house and resting his old bones more and more.  Then two weeks ago, he barked at the mailman and then waited at the back door to go.  "When I
called him a little later, he didn't come," Steve says. "I found him in the yard just lying there. He died in the car on the way to the vet."  His heart had just given out.  Maybe part of it was because of all those chases and arrests.
all those nights of keeping the peace ... all those rides in the back of a police car.  "He was with me 24 hours a day," Steve says. "He really was my little buddy."  Hans was wonderful to have around. He could be as gentle with the kids as he was tough with criminals. He loved giving demonstrations at area schools.  "Hans was dignified, while Fritz is a little more happy-go-lucky," Steve says. "Hans was a dog who thought he was a person. Fritz is a dog who
thinks everyone else is a dog. "Steve knows not to compare Fritz to Hans too much yet.  "That's would be like
comparing a rookie cop to a seasoned veteran," he admits. And he hopes that Fritz doesn't take offense when
he is occasionally called Hans by mistake.  "When Steve and Hans were on the scene, you knew you had a
great team there," says South Bend Capt. Jeff Walters. "Even Steve admits that the dog may have had more to
 do with making him a good officer than he had to do with making Hans a good K-9."  They always seemed to
know what the other one was thinking. "I would have all kinds of discussions with Hans when we drove around,"
Steve says. "And he never once disagreed with me."  Hans did occasionally steal his partner's sandwich if he left
 it on the dashboard unattended. "And he would give me this funny dog smile in return," Steve says.
Hans also loved chasing rabbits, slobbering over rawhide chewies and having his belly rubbed when he wasn't on duty.  "He knew how to turn his work mode off and on," Steve says.  He was a bad guy's nightmare, a good cop's
 dream dog and a family's beloved pooch. "You couldn't ask for a better dog," Steve says. Or buddy.
Bill Moor's column appears on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Contact him at bmoor@sbtinfo.com,
 or write him at the South Bend Tribune, 225 W. Colfax Ave., South Bend, IN 46626; (574) 235-6072.
originally submitted by Julie Hoffman

In Loving Memory of
 K9 HANK
 November 13, 2006
 
 Handler:-  unknown (help)
 Nueces County Sheriff's Office
 901 Leopard
 Corpus Christi, Texas 78401
 Phone: (361) 887-2222 Fax: (361) 887-2206
 Email: County Sheriff
 The Nueces County courthouse is monitored by a state of the art security system and a private security company.
However, the sheriff's Department provides one to two officers to monitor the courthouse and have purchased
and explosive "bomb" detection K-9. After September 11th, the security of our government buildings was severely
 compromised. The "bomb" K-9 is stationed at the courthouse security gate and conducts walkthroughs of the entire courthouse premises.