Memorials to Fallen K-9s 
 2005 page 18
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
K-9 MIKKI (SAR)
Maascaille's Mad Mikki, FR1, UCD
FEMA Basic, Wilderness Prepared
Nov. 15, 1989 - July 8, 2005

Partner:  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 simular. 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
K-9 ARCO
July 8, 2005

Partner: Cpl. Mark Archer
Marian County Sheriff's Dept.
50 S. Alabama St.
Indianapolis, IN  46204
317. 231.8200

A Marion County Sheriff's Department dog and a man being chased by officers were killed in an exchange of gunfire Monday afternoon on the Southside. The gunfire ended a 40-minute search through a residential neighborhood, dotted with weeds and woods, for a man police were trying to arrest. The man's name was not immediately released. He died inside a small shed behind a residence in the 3600 block of Carson Avenue. Police on Monday night were still trying to determine where the officers were standing when the shots were fired. Initial indications were that the man being sought fired first, followed almost immediately by return fire from the officers.
The dog was only the second to die by hostile fire, said Lt. Benny Diggs, the commander of the department's K9 unit. For the animals' handlers, who train with the dogs and care for them at their homes, it's like the loss of a human partner. "For the eight hours a day you spend with that dog, you develop almost a familylike bond with them," Diggs said. The dog, an 8-year-old Belgian Malinois named Arco, was handled by Cpl. Mark Archer, an 11-year Sheriff's Department veteran. Archer was seen leaving the scene of the shooting in tears.  The shooting was reported by frenzied police radio calls at 5:40 p.m. People in the vicinity said they heard several shots. "We were in the back yard and heard five, six pops," said Rick Bowman, of Iowa, who was visiting friends in the 1800 block of Norton Avenue. "It sounded real close."  That location is a few hundred feet from the shooting scene. Police were called about 5 p.m. by residents in the 3600 block of Randolph Street. "A call came in that there was a person with a gun that police were looking for," said Sgt. Judy Phillips, a police spokesw oman. The man was wanted on several criminal arrest warrants, including ones for a parole violation, burglary, battery and resisting arrest, Phillips said. She said the man also previously was involved in an incident in which shots were fired at police. When police arrived on Randolph Street, the man ran, and police called in extra officers to search the neighborhood. The sheriff's deputy was involved because the deputy's dog was needed to assist with the search, police said. The area is on the outer fringe of the IPD South District, where the sheriff's jurisdiction begins. Residents of the house on Carson Avenue then called police to report a man was in their back yard. Police went to the house, and the exchange of gunfire followed.The dog was carried to a patrol car and rushed to the VCA Southeastern Animal Hospital, 4960 S. Emerson Ave., where it was pronounced dead.  Police at first could not say who fired shots at the man, although it was likely that more than one officer returned fire.  Indianapolis police procedure allows officers involved in shootings to consult with attorneys from their union, the Fraternal Order of Police, before they are questioned by homicide detectives. Officers could not say whether that procedure was a factor in the pace of the investigation. The dog was turned over to the Marion County coroner's office. Officials will need to recover evidence, especially any bullets fired in the shootout. As a deputy coroner carried the dog's covered body out of the animal hospital, "one of the deputies took his badge and pinned it to the cover" as a show of respect, Diggs said. "It was all I could do to keep from tearing up."
Sheriff's dogs and their handlers train at least once a month. Belgian Malinois puppies typically cost $400 to $1,000, but months of training are necessary to make a new dog ready for active patrol. Diggs said a memorial service will be held for Arco.



Marion County Sheriff's Deputy Ryan Archer fights back his emotions after a police dog called Arco was killed Monday during a Southside shoot-out with a man wanted by police. The man, whose name hasn't been released, also died. -- Matt Kryger / The Star


Community Rallies For Fallen Canine
July 16, 2005, 08:10 PM   IN
 
Support for a fallen police dog is coming from an unusual source. A gun store and shooting range is stepping-up to help a Marion County Sheriff's deputy get a new partner. The people at the gun shop say, human or canine, it doesn't matter. Backing-up all public safety officers is what's important. Corporal mark archer's partner "Arco" was killed last Monday while backing-up police officers during a shootout. "One of the lowest paid officers. I mean, they'll work for kibbles. What else can you do," Mike Hilton of Popguns said. Hilton is supporting law enforcers and animal lovers by helping raise money to find Corporal Archer a new canine officer. He's accepting donations at Popguns, his gun shop and shooting range on the city's east side. "They're loyal. They give a 110 percent to their trainers. It's a shame," Hilton said. Just like their human handlers, police dogs receive little attention during routine patrols. But at the end of a 2003 police pursuit in Indianapolis, it was a canine officer brought-down a suspect running from the law. "That's what catches these guys when they run. We don't need to have a human officer to go into it. We can send a canine," Hilton explained. The police investigation following the Monday night shooting confirmed the connection between human police officers and their canine counterparts. Hilton hopes city officials are paying attention, while they debate the cost of public safety. He hopes they recognize the key role police dogs play. According to Hilton, it takes $16,000 to raise a dog from a pup to become a canine officer. Hilton believes that's significant, when the city's trying to save money by combining its law enforcement resources. You can make donations for the new canine officer at Popguns and any Fifth-Third Bank. And there's another company getting involved, too. Capitol City Metal will present a $2,000 check to the Marion County Sheriff's Department for replacing Arco, and to buy bulletproof vests for canine officers.

In memoriam: Gift honors slain dog

A local scrap metal business is donating money to replace Arco, the police dog killed in the line of duty last week, as well as $2,000 for bulletproof vests for canines.

General manager Matt McKinney of Capitol City Metal will present a check today during a ceremony at his business at 331 S. Shelby St. Arco and his handler, Cpl. Mark Archer of the Marion County Sheriff's Department, were helping chase a suspect when Arco was shot and killed. Officers fatally shot the suspect, Jerry L. "Big" Stephens, 29, Indianapolis, moments later.

Capitol City Metal will give $2,000 to the Sheriff's Department to find a successor to Arco and to buy protective vests, and $1,000 to the Indianapolis Police Department canine unit, also for vests.



submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir.  http://www.cpwda.com & Jenny  Parrish
In Loving Memory of
K-9 TYSON
July 12, 2005

Partner:  Sgt. Nick Kellum
St. Paul Police Dept.
367 Grove St.
St. Paul, MN  55101
651.291.1111 
St. Paul cop grieves lost canine partner
Curt Brown,  Star Tribune July 13, 2005
 
St. Paul police officer Nick Kellum tried his best to convince himself of two things: You don't cry over animals. And that his spunky canine partner, Tyson, was not a pet, but another crime-fighting tool to help us "protect and serve and, hopefully, make it home every day."
But when Tyson, a 3-year-old German Shepherd, collapsed while chasing a suspect Friday and died from heat stroke and a rare case of a paralyzed larynx, Kellum found himself reconsidering his tough-guy tenets.
"I always told myself an animal is an animal and, as long as it's not a human, you don't cry," Kellum, 30, said Tuesday. "But I was a big guy with tears rolling down my eyes when they told me they had to put him down. I felt like one of my friend or brothers had just passed."
Canine trainers, during a 12-week course last year, instilled in Kellum the notion that Tyson was a working dog, not a pet.
"But when you take off that uniform and he's laying in your lap on your backyard deck, it's hard not to see him as a pet," said Kellum, a sixth-year cop. "My son turned 3 months old on July Fourth and I was telling him how he and Tyson were going to grow up together and one day, he could feed him. Four days later, the dog is gone."
Tyson was born in Germany and purchased for about $5,000 by the St. Paul K-9 Foundation, which is trying to find another dog for Kellum. That could be easier said than done. Trainers say the demand for police dogs is intensely high since 9/11.
How important was Tyson? Flash back one week. At 6:25 a.m. Thursday, St. Paul 911 officers received a call from a woman arguing with her boyfriend on the western edge of town.

The line went dead. Kellum and Tyson were among those responding. The man had hit his wife on the head with the phone and was refusing to step out of the house. He had a 10-inch kitchen knife.
While other officers pulled out guns and Tasers, Kellum found an unopened screen door and announced he was letting the dog in. The man hollered: "Do what you need to do, I'm not coming out." Within seconds, Tyson clamped his jaw on the man's leg. When officers handcuffed the suspect, they found two knives nearby.
The next day, while tracking a robbery suspect on the East Side, Tyson sounded like he was having an asthma attack. He collapsed and Kellum gave up the chase and ended up at the University of Minnesota Veterinary Hospital. The diagnosis: a rare tracheal disorder called laryngeal paralysis. He was euthanized, police say.
"Imagine trying to breath and talk while someone's choking you," Kellum said. "He'd been pulling hard in the heat and wasn't getting enough wind and was wheezing and turning blue when he went down."
Tyson is currently frozen because he bit the suspect last week and rabies law requires a 10-day waiting period before he can be cremated. His ashes will be buried beneath a plaque at the Timothy Jones Canine Training Facility off Rice Street just north of the city he served.
"Some dogs you see in the back of the squad car look like they're ready to tear the back of the cage off," Kellum said. "Tyson was different. He was always laid back until he saw those lights and heard those sirens. When I popped the door, I always used to say: "Let's go find this guy and Dr. Jekyll
******************
A St. Paul police dog has died of heat stroke and a previously undiagnosed disease after pursuing a suspect last week, police said Tuesday. 
Tyson, a 3-year-old German shepherd, had trouble breathing during a lengthy pursuit and collapsed on Friday. The dog was taken to an animal hospital and later transferred to the University of Minnesota Veterinary Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a rare disorder, said Paul Schnell, department spokesman.
When veterinarians determined surgery wouldn't stop the disease's progress, Tyson was euthanized, Schnell said. Officer Nick Kellum worked with Tyson. They joined the department's canine unit in March 2004.
"The loss of a police canine is devastating for the handler, the unit and the city," said Sgt. Paul Rhodes, who heads the canine unit. "These dogs do a tremendous amount of work and serve their handlers for the good of the community."
On Thursday, Tyson caught a suspect in a domestic assault who was carrying a knife.  The department has asked the nonprofit St. Paul Police K-9 Foundation to purchase a replacement dog for Kellum. The dogs usually come from Europe and cost about $5,000.  Another St. Paul police dog died suddenly in September. Dakota, a 4-year-old German shepherd, had a rare intestinal disorder.

submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA

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