 Memorials
to Fallen K-9s |
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K-9 ROSCO October 13, 2003  Partner: Jamie Laird Retired -
Lt. Commander
NYPD ESU Unit Brooklyn NYC |
My K-9 partner and friend PD Rosco a Black & gold
german shepherd to the memorial list. He has passed away after finding
him deceased due to natural causes on Monday October 13th 2003 0822hrs.
Pd Rosco served with me and was my last K-9 partner serving from 1990
to 1995 with me through the NYPD ESU Unit in Brooklyn NYC. Rosco
retired with me and saw out his years with the respect and my endearing
love and gratitude and thanks. I owe him as my life and safety he
had saved during our tours of duty. He will always be a part of my
heart and soul and his spirit and will be still by my side watching
over me all through till the end my candle is snuffed out and we
are
together once more.
A POLICE DOG'S PRAYER
Oh almighty
God,
whose great power and eternal wisdom embraces the universe, watch over my handler while I sleep. Protect my handler from harm while I am unable to do so. I pray, help keep our streets and homes safe while my handler and I rest. I ask for your loving care because my handler's duty is dangerous. Grant my handler your unending strength and courage in our daily assignments. Dear God, protect my brave handler, grant your almighty protection, unite my handler safely with the family after the tour of duty has ended. I ask nothing for myself. Amen.  |
| In
Loving
Memory of K-9 CUBBY October 13, 2003  Partner: Officer Timothy Lindstrom New Baltimore Police Dept. 50910 Washington Ave. New Baltimore, MI 48047 586 725-2181 All about Cubby The story
of Cubby is an interesting one. Cubby was a black lab mix. We
had no paper work on him, but we believe he may have been part Akita or
part pit bull. Cubby was taken to the Humane Society as a young adult
(2 years old) coming from the streets of Detroit. The leader dogs for
the Blind School picked him up from the Humane Society believing he
would be a good candidate. The school in Rochester, Michigan found him
to be too hyper and he flunked out. A master trainer then tested cubby
to see if he would be a good candidate for a police K-9. He found Cubby
to be exceptional as a narcotics dog. Cubby was then trained by the
master trainer and was then paired up with me. I was at the New
Baltimore Police
Department. Cubby and I (Tim Lindstrom), went to the
Oakland Police
K-9 Academy. Cubby and I passed the academy in 1999. He became
certified in narcotics through USPCA and NAPWDA. Cubby then came to New
Baltimore where he worked over the next four and a half years. He
assisted in 290 narcotic arrests. In that time, Cubby helped keep the
schools in the Macomb County and St. Clair County area drug free.
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Cubby
assisted in arresting narcotic dealers and users in the schools
allowing the good kids to feel a little safer. He also assisted with
narcotics raids and searched so many vehicles, I lost count. Cubby
found many
hidden compartments in vehicles that the officers would not have found
by themselves. Cubby was also an asset to me on street patrol. In four
and a half years, I never had to fight anyone on the street due in
large part to his fierce bark. The subjects would hear his bark and
would decide to give the narcotics up and not fight with me. Cubby was
also aggression trained and could back up his bark if needed. He had
the
rare gift of knowing when to turn it on and when not. He definitely
was a master of reading my body language. Cubby also loved to
perform demonstrations for the youth and adults
alike. He seemed to come alive in front of an audience. He could endear
his heart to you in a one time visit. For me, it was
pure joy to work with Cubby as he made my job that much
more exciting and fun to do. When I put my uniform on every day, Cubby
would be waiting at the back door so he would not miss going with me.
Cubby just loved to work and was fun to watch in action. In
August 2003, I found a tumor on his right side. WE called the vet's
office and they scheduled a surgery for the following Monday. Within
that
week, fifteen more tumors showed up and we knew
he was in trouble. The surgeon removed all of the tumors and within
another week, fifteen more showed up. The biopsy revealed that the
tumors were undifferentiated soft tissue sarcoma grade three. We then
had a chest x-ray performed and it was determined he had several spots
on his lung. The very next day, he was taken for chemotherapy. To help
defer the cost of the chemo treatments, a benefit dinner was thrown for
Cubby in his honor on October 5th. More than 950 citizens showed ;up
for the spaghetti dinner. It was an honor to see so many people in the
Metro Detroit area had fallen in love with Cubby. They wanted a chance
to help him. The Metro Detroit News Teams ran several stories on him.
He became a local hero. He was so loved by the community. The New
Baltimore Police Association earned enough money from the dinner and
other donations through the mail to pay for his treatments.
Unfortunately the cancer spread to Cubby's central nervous system. He
began to have seizures that could not be stopped by medicine. On
October
11th, Chubby was put to sleep to save his dignity and not let him
suffer. That moment was the hardest in our lives for my wife, Heidi,
and I. We miss him terribly. I wrote a children's story about Cubby in
the spring of 2003. It is a heart-warming story of a mutt who would
become a police K-9, honored by his fellow officers and community. The
story is at several different publishers firhgt now and it will take
months before we find out if they want to publish the book.
I thank you for thinking of my "little hero." written and submitted by handler, Officer Lindstrom notified by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA
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| In
Loving
Memory of K-9 D'KOTA September 22, 2003  Partner: Officer Gary D'Souza South San Francisco Police Dept. 33 Arroyo Drive, South San Francisco, CA 94080. 415.671.3108 It is with great sadness that we
announce the passing of K9 D’Kota from South San Francisco PD. D’kota
passed away on 9/22/03 due to intestinal torsion. She was six years
old. K9 D’Kota and her handler, Gary D’Souza, began their patrol
partnership three years ago. She was Narcotics certified in July 2002.
She was one of two cross trained dogs for the department. D’Kota had
several drug finds and arrests to her credit. Gary and D'Kota also came
out to play at many of the trials this year. Many of you saw Gary and
D’Kota at the Stockton Narcotics Trial just this past weekend. I hope
all of you will join the WSPCA Board in keeping K9 D’Kota and Gary in
our thoughts.
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Last week,
Gary D'Souza lost his best friend, his daughter
and his police partner, all in a morning. The burly,
35-year-old South San Francisco police officer does not look like the
kind of man who cries easily, but he is overcome with emotion recalling
the morning of Sept. 22, when he found his 5-year-old police dog,
D'kota, dying of a twisted intestine in their San Bruno home. She was
like my little girl," D'Souza explains, overlooking the makeshift
shrine he has laid out in his living room, where D'kota slept on a
padded chair nearby. A candle illuminates pictures of the dog, her
collar and several awards the undersized German shepherd won at various
police dog competitions throughout the state. Police officers say
the grief D'Souza shows over D'kota's death is more than just the
sentimentalized reaction to the loss of a pet. It is the product of a
powerful emotional bond that is formed between a police officer and the
K-9 partner who accompanies him through the dangerous rounds of law
enforcement. Most people
have no clue the tightness of the unit and the relationship between the
handler and the dog," said Lt. Roy Varney, head of the department's
canine teams. Varney said he was a "wreck" when he found out his former
partner, Nick, who he said had saved his life on two occasions, died --
four years after they stopped patrolling together. Canine
units are considered just one of the "tools" police departments use to
fight crime. These dogs, usually aggressive breeds like German
shepherds and Rottweilers, are called in to uncover drugs hidden in
vehicles or homes, or to flush out a suspect hiding from
officers. Off duty, police dogs follow their owners home, where
they are no different than the family pet. They play games with chew
toys and bark at strangers who approach. They accompany officers on
errands to the grocery store and appear in family photographs.
When a dog dies, even several years after he has retired from police
work, it can be devastating for the officer who trained him. South City
officer Mike Kuchac still becomes emotional a year after finding his
partner of six years, King, dead of a heart attack in the back seat of
his patrol car. "I was trying to keep a stiff upper lip for a
while," he said, his voice faltering. "In fact. I am starting to get
choked up right now." Kuchac said it is impossible to convey how
close a dog and officer become during the treacherous rounds of police
work and during the off-duty time living together. "You are
working with them five days a week. Ten hours a day he is in that car
with you. I pretty much saw him more than I saw my wife and kids,"
Kuchac said. South City police Sgt. Mike Brosnan understands the
intensity of D'Souza's reaction. His own dog, K.C., barely survived a
56-foot plunge off a loading dock while on duty in 1990. He has
attended funeral services for police dogs killed in the line of duty
where officers and dogs in attendance numbered in the hundreds.
"As you start working with a police canine, you come across situations
where that call for service would have been a violent one if the dog
was not there. So that just makes the bond that much stronger," Brosnan
said. D'Souza and D'kota worked the graveyard shift together -
the lonely, all night beat when D'kota's keen hearing and instincts
came in handy in darkened alleyways and shadowy places where officers
are vulnerable. On the last weekend of her life, D'kota took part
in a demonstration for residents at the Day in the Park festival in
Orange Memorial Park. A week later, D'Souza has returned to
patrolling the streets of South San Francisco, but says it is not the
same job. He wears a new uniform, and has changed the call sign he used
to identify himself to dispatchers as a canine officer. He drives his
new squad car alone, and, when his shift is done in the morning, the
loneliness is waiting for him at home as well.
submitted by Dusty Simon |
| In
Loving
Memory of K-9 TURBO SAR Oct. 10, 2003  Handler: Scott Stroming Wenatchee, WA |
A SAR dog in my area that has
died. His name was Turbo and he was a Golden Retriever. I
saw the story in the Wenatchee World Newspaper. He was a part of
the Back Country Recuses K-9s and the Chelan County Sheriffs Office
Posse Dog Team. And trained with the Chelan County Mountain
Rescue. His owner was Scott Stroming of
Wenatchee, Wa.
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