memorial2001

Memorials to Fallen K-9s

2010-T

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

In Loving Memory of
K9 TARGET MWD
November 15, 2010

Handler: Sergeant Terry Young
Arizona Pinal County

US staffer fired for euthanising hero dog
Officials say an employee for Arizona's Pinal County has been fired after euthanising a war-hero dog that wasn't
scheduled to be put down. The unidentified employee at the Animal Care and Control facility in Casa Grande
was placed on administrative leave after euthanising the female shepherd cross by mistake on Monday.
The firing was announced on Friday.
The dog named Target had been brought to Arizona by Sergeant Terry Young after his tour of duty. He says the
dog was lauded for thwarting an attack by a suicide bomber in war-torn Afghanistan. But Target escaped
Young's backyard last weekend and didn't have a tag or microchip. Young later found Target's picture on a
website used by the county's dog catchers to help owners track lost pets.
on Monday to claim his dog, only to find her dead.
MORE:

A brave dog who saved the lives of American troops in Afghanistan and was flown to live in America was accidentally euthanized by an Arizona animal shelter employee yesterday. Target, a female shepherd mix, made headlines earlier this year when she chased away a suicide bomber in Afghanistan who attempted to target a military base containing almost 50 soldiers. The troops befriended Target and two other strays. Target and another stray, Rufus, were eventually flown from Afghanistan to Arizona to be reunited with Sgt. Terry Young, who adopted the canine duo.

submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA

In Loving Memory of
K9 TANGO

September 2010

Handler: Officer Staebler

Chelsea Police Department
104 E Middle St.,
Chelsea, MI 48118

Retired police dog dies
Officer Jeff Staebler’s police K-9 dog Tango was buried this week. Tango was brought to the United States from Germany. He then became Officer Staebler’s third K-9 partner, following Ripley and Ranger. Tango will be greatly missed by his family and the community that knew him.
Tango was adored by all ages because of his interaction with so many groups such as Girl Scout troops, Boy Scouts, school classrooms, Chelsea Fair, Safety Town, Chelsea Fire Department open house demonstrations,
and many other community events.
Tango’s eight-year career with Staebler consisted of many armed robbery tracks ending in arrests, narcotic searches, evidence searches, tracks for lost children, missing senior citizens as well as suicidal individuals. This pair also assisted many other surrounding agencies. Since Tango’s retirement in 2007 he has enjoyed being on “Tango Time” with Officer Staebler and his family. Officer Staebler’s current K-9, Brodie, follows some very big footprints but is doing a great job.

submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA

In Loving Memory of
K9 TAZ
August 4, 2010

Handler: Deputy Justin Hussey

Burke County Sheriff Office

150 Government Drive
Morganton, NC 28655
(828)-438-5500
FAX (828)-438-5469

website - http://www.burkesheriff.org/

Police dog dies from heat inside deputy's car

Officials say a K-9 died earlier this month in Burke County after he was left inside a patrol car in which the air conditioning failed to work. The incident happened in Burke County on August 4th. Deputies were cleaning out the Burke-Catawba District Confinement Facility which is the jail attached to the sheriff's office. Deputy Justin Hussey had used his K-9, Taz, to search the facility. Hussey then brought the dog out to his patrol car.

The sheriff's office says it is normal procedure for K-9s to be left alone inside a patrol car with the air conditioning running when the dog handler is in the office. The patrol cars are equipped with a switch which automatically activates when the thermostat reaches a certain temperature. The temperature on the day the dog died was 94 degrees. According to Burke County Sheriff John McDevitt, the switch malfunctioned and never turned on the air conditioning.

The K-9 was in the car for about one-and-a-half to two hours. The dog died of heat exhaustion according to Dr. Mark McMahon with the Burke Animal Clinic. Taz had been with the sheriff's office for two years. This is the first accidental death involving a K-9 for the sheriff's department.
submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA

In Loving Memory of
K9 TROLL
June 14, 2010

Handler: Officer Cale Lennberg
Salt Lake City Police Department
Salt Lake City, UT
1040 West 700 South
Salt Lake City, UT
(801) 799-4600

The Salt Lake City Police Department acknowledges the passing of K9 Troll, who lost his battle with cancer Friday, June 4, 2010. K9 Troll was diagnosed with an untreatable tumor in mid-April. Although his health was failing, he exhibited a continual desire to work. He caught four felony suspects during his last week of service, with his last apprehension on
June 3.
Born in Germany in June 2004, Troll joined SLCPD as a police service dog assigned to Officer Cale Lennberg in January 2006. Under Lennberg’s tutelage, Troll earned certification in patrol and narcotics searches in April that same year.
While a good narcotics dog, Troll excelled in tracking and searching for people. Due to his proficiency as an all around police service dog, he was used extensively for public education, K9 demonstrations and department meet-and-greets.
Over the course of his career with SLCPD and Officer Lennberg, Troll deployed 456 times on people or narcotic searches and captured or apprehended 71 suspects. As a team in K9 Trial competitions, Lennberg and Troll took home more than 30 individual trophies, including the following special honors:

1st place Top Dog Utah Peace Officers Association (UPOA) 2010
1st place Tracking K9 UPOA 2010
1st place Top Dog UPOA 2009
2nd place Top Dog Las Vegas 2009
2nd place overall Narcotics K9 Las Vegas 2009
1st place Top Dog UPOA 2007
1st place Top Dog West Valley K9 Trial 2007
addhttp://www.slcpd.com/newsroom/pressreleases/2010/june/pressreleases/k9-troll.html

submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA

In Loving Memory of
K9 TITAN
May 14, 2010

Handler: Const. Jonathan Zielinski

Saanich Police
Canada

WEBSITE - http://www.saanichpolice.ca/

Police dog death 'a mystery'

Saanich police have lost a member of their canine unit. German shepherd Titan was only 21/2 years old when he died suddenly of a condition called gastric torsion on May 14th. Saanich police chief Mike Chadwick said Titan is Saanich police's first dog to die while in active service, and that he will be missed by the department. Bred in Washington state for police work, Titan was purchased by Saanich a year ago and assigned to work with Const. Jonathan Zielinski.

He lived with Zielinski and his family while he underwent a 12- to 14-week training program. Police spokesman Sgt. John Price said Titan was an extremely affectionate, protective and family-oriented dog when off-duty, and a very focused animal when working. "The family is very upset at his sudden passing," Price said, noting Titan showed promise as a potential drug and search-and-rescue dog.He had been involved in 30 calls and six apprehensions.

Sgt. Glen MacKenzie, the officer in charge of the force's canine unit, is now scouting to add another dog to the four-team unit. Price said gastric torsion usually affects a dog that is active shortly after eating. Police dogs are fed at the end of their shift and then not exercised or worked for 10 hours. Price said Titan's stomach was empty and he was inactive before his death. "His passing remains a mystery," Price said.
submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA

In Loving Memory of
K9 TIGGER
August 14, 1996 - May 2, 2010

Handler: Officer Jesse Eng
K9 Division - Chicago Police Department

For those who knew Tigger, played with him or taken bites with scars to remember him. I wanted to inform you that Tigger has crossed over the Rainbow Bridge tonight where he will be meet his favorite decoy Gene Sako with a bite sleeve, waiting for him. They would have so much fun doing bite work. He would've have been 14 in Aug. He was my best partner and he has left some huge paws to fill for my new partner.

submitted by Jesse
+++++++++++++
THE RAINBOW BRIDGE

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together. Author unknown

In Loving Memory of
K9 TRAX
SAR
March 12, 2010

Handler: Lois Hall
Clinton County Sheriff’s Department
612 N 2nd
Clinton, IA 52733
Phone: 563-242-9211

website - http://www.clintoncounty-ia.gov/Page/Sheriff.aspx?nt=501

Search and rescue dog mourned

Clinton County Sheriff’s Reserve K-9 Trax completes search and rescue work with his handler, reserve deputy Lois Hall, at the scene of a Galesburg, IL, fire in January 2006. Trax died Friday of cancer.

Trax loved to work. The Clinton County Sheriff’s Reserve K-9 continued training in search and rescue until just weeks before his death Friday from cancer. Trax, the first dog in Iowa to serve on a sheriff’s reserve force, was 12. “The search work is what he enjoyed,” said Lois Hall, Trax’s handler, owner and partner. “To the dogs, it’s a big game. It’s hide and seek. And he certainly loved to do it.” Lois, a sheriff’s reserve deputy, estimates the German Shepherd was involved in more than 300 search and rescue operations in his lifetime, including natural disasters, robberies, burglaries, drownings, suicides, murders, missing persons and evidence recoveries.
Lois and her husband Bill, Clinton residents, signed up as reserve deputies in Clinton County in 1999. They raised Trax from a puppy and started training him when he was just 10 weeks old in 1998, and the dog was brought onto the force when the Halls joined the following year.
The couple’s two other dogs, Hawk, a 6-year-old German Shepherd, and Deker, a 5-year-old Collie, currently serve as reserve K-9s. The Halls hold weekly training sessions and attend numerous seminars across the nation every year with the dogs.
“We didn’t have K-9 units in our community at the time we started,” said Bill. “Basically, we think that we kind of spurred all of that in placing them.” The Clinton County Sheriff’s Office now has two full-time K-9 units on the force, in addition to the Halls’ two reserve dogs. Sheriff Rick Lincoln said the Halls and their animals have been an asset to both the community and the region. Trax was certified through the North American Police Work Dog Association, assisting law enforcement and emergency response agencies in six states and in Canada in his lifetime.

As part of being trained in search and rescue, he worked in trailing, air scent, evidence search, human remains detection and disaster first response. Trax was also a nationally certified therapy dog, and regularly visited area hospitals and assisted living centers. The dog received numerous awards through both his work with law enforcement agencies and his involvement with local educational and civic programs.
“He was always eager to train, he was always eager to work,” said Lois. “Everything I asked of him, he did.

Whether it was to be a search dog or to be a therapy dog, or obedience-wise, he did it.” Lois said Trax showed the first signs of illness in May last year, when he began having balance problems in agility exercises. The dog was diagnosed with transitional cell carcinoma, and underwent treatment at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Purdue University in Indiana.Lois said Trax never lost his drive to work in the months before his death. The Halls continued weekly sessions with him, although they realized the animal would likely never return to active duty.
“He continued to train until just a few weeks ago, because he wanted to do it,” said Lois. “He wanted to go out. He wanted to search, and to leave him in the car was just, for him, devastating. So we would take him out and allow him to train, although at that point, we knew he couldn’t work an actual case.”As Trax’s condition began to worsen over the last month, Lois said she was with the dog non-stop, and she was able to be at her partner’s side Friday when he died.
The Halls hope to hold a memorial ceremony for Trax sometime early next month. Lois said the dog’s service with the county was unique because he was still considered an active member of the reserve at the time of his death. “I always wanted to do something with dogs,” Lois said. “Something useful, not just for sport. Having a dog like Trax that could serve the community, save lives, help families recover their loved ones, and provide comfort to those who needed it proved to be the perfect partnership for both of us.”
MORE:

Memorial service will honor search-and-rescue tracking dog Trax

In his 12 years, Trax, a German shepherd trained as a search-and-rescue and therapy dog, saw a lot of action. He helped law enforcement agencies search for missing people in the mountains of Idaho and Canada and the streets of Clinton, helped identify evidence in major criminal cases, located a downed airplane pilot in the Mississippi River and befriended the sick and elderly at area hospitals and nursing facilities.

But when he died March 12 after a nine-month battle with cancer, his handlers, Bill and Lois Hall of Clinton, lost not just a key member of their team of search-and-rescue dogs, they lost a member of their family. “He was with me all the time,” Lois Hall said. “He slept next to me every night.” On Saturday, area law enforcement agencies and fire
departments will participate in a memorial service and processional to pay their respects to Trax and honor
the help he gave them.

The 10:30 a.m. service at Carson & Son funeral home in Maquoketa will be followed by a processional to to Bickelhaupt Arboretum in Clinton for a memorial dedication at 1 p.m. Trax’s remains have been cremated. The Halls had worked with seeing-eye dogs, then a colleague got them interested in using one of their retired dogs as a search-and-rescue dog
14 years ago.

Seeing a need in the Clinton area for a search-and-rescue dog team, they acquired Trax when he was 10 weeks old and began his training. It was the start of Emergency K-9 Operations Inc., a not-for-profit search-and-rescue team that includes two other dogs owned by the Halls — Hawk, another German shepherd, and Deker, a collie. The Halls train their dogs a minimum of eight hours a week, take them to visit hospitals and nursing homes and give
demonstrations for clubs.

Lois Hall said Trax proved some doubters wrong early in his career when he located the body of John J. Biolchini, a Peru, Ill., man whose single-engine airplane crashed in the Mississippi River near Clinton in September 1999. Trained to sniff for human cadavers, Trax barked at a part of the plane’s wreckage that was submerged under the water. Some observers had a hard time believing Trax could locate a body under the water.
“They really didn’t believe us initially,” Lois Hall said.

When the wreckage was pulled up, Biolchini’s body was found inside where Trax had indicated. Trax’s skills also came into play during the investigation of missing Bellevue antiques dealer Gregory May in 2001. Bill Hall said Trax and other dogs were brought to an impound lot to sniff the trunks of five cars, one of which police believed had been used to transport May’s body. The dogs all hit on the same spot in the trunk of the same car.

Douglas DeBruin was convicted of killing May and disposing of parts of his body in the Mississippi River and leaving the skull in a bucket of concrete at a truck stop in Missouri. Lois Hall said Trax was used by the Clinton Police Department to help locate missing people and by local fire departments to search fire scenes. Clinton County Sheriff Rick Lincoln said the Halls and their dogs have been reserve members of his department for many years and a valuable asset.

Jurgen Duhr, administrator at Sarah Harding senior living center in Clinton, said Trax and the other dogs visit the residents once a month. The residents enjoy learning about the dogs and their training, and the Halls love teaching about their organization’s work.

submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA

In Loving Memory of
K9 TROY

February 2010

Handler: PC Mark Lambert
Nottinghamsire Police Authority
County Hall
West Bridgford, Nottingham
NG2 7QP
Ph: 0115 977 3078 Fax: 0115 977 2451

Email npa@nottinghamshire.pnn.police.uk

Hero police dog Troy dies
A Police dog has died just days after being praised by a judge for tracking down a burglar. The crime-fighting German Shepherd called Troy held a divisional commendation award along with his handler, PC Mark Lambert. The pair were expected to be nominated for another this year for their work. But, last Thursday, five-year-old Troy died. He became ill on Wednesday and was referred to a vet three times in 24 hours. An operation found he was suffering from a spleen condition and had a tumour on his heart. Attempts to repair the spleen were unsuccessful and Troy could not be saved.

It was only last Monday that Troy's skill and competence as a police dog had been praised – by Judge Michael Stokes QC at Nottingham Crown Court. Troy and PC Lambert tracked burglar Alan Willetts for two hours as they followed a trail of clothing and discarded property from a burglary in Ashford Rise, Sutton-in-Ashfield. Willetts, 23, of Elder Street, Skegby, was given 21 months in prison after he admitted the break-in. The court heard he was spending up to £50-a-day on heroin. He was the look-out for the burglary and was to be paid £20.

Three men in grey hooded tops were seen in the garden of the house just after midnight on January 2. Wine, Champagne, ornaments and DVDs were put inside two pillow cases. Willetts, who has convictions for shoplifting, burglary and possession of a weapon, ran off, discarding his gloves and balaclava on the way. Judge Stokes said PC Lambert and his dog were to be commended. "No doubt the dog will get an extra bone," he said. And he told Willetts: "Thanks to PC Lambert and his dog, Troy, you and one of the others were caught."

Inspector Kevin Guise, of Notts Police's dog section, said: "Troy was an excellent police dog and had formed a superb working relationship with his handler in the three-and-a-half years they had been operating together. "The fact they were being praised in court by a judge is no surprise. "They had just had one of their best months, with some exemplary tracking work helping us secure some good arrests." He said Troy had not suffered an injury, but PC Lambert sensed the dog was not well and took him to a vet.

"Spleen conditions are not uncommon in dogs, but sadly there was nothing that could be done for Troy," said Insp Guise. "We are all devastated by the loss of such a fine dog and our thoughts go out to Mark, to whom Troy was a much-loved companion as well as a colleague." In July 2009, PC Lambert and Troy responded to reports of a burglary in Bestwood Village in the early hours of morning and successfully tracked three suspects, all of whom were arrested.
submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA