Nick

In Loving Memory of
  P.D. K-9 NITRO
January 23, 2006

Partner: Cst. Howard Rutter

submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA  & Cst. Steve Kaye

Vancouver police dog mourned   -  Jan 25 2006
A Vancouver police dog was killed on Monday night while trying to stop a suspect who had jumped onto a moving rail car.  Nitro, an eight-year-old German Shepherd, had been with the police department since 1999, always with the same handler, Const. Howard Rutter.   On Monday evening, they began a pursuit of a stolen car in East Vancouver – following the vehicle along Marine Drive into New Westminster.   They caught up with the stolen car near a rail line, where traffic had stopped for a train.   The two suspects ended up fleeing on foot, with Rutter and Nitro still in pursuit. One of the men saw the dog closing in on him and jumped up onto the side of a stationery box car. The dog jumped up after him and got a grip on the man's leg. The train then started to move, and Nitro lost his grip and fell to his death under its wheels .  The two suspects managed to get away. But one man was taken into custody a few hours later.  Nitro and Const. Howard Rutter take part in a training exercise.(Courtesy: Clay Stang/VPD)  26 year-old Gregg Daniel Pete of Vancouver has been charged with possession of stolen property over $5,000.   Police are still looking for the second man.  Nitro is featured in an ICBC auto theft poster campaign, which begins next month. He was also the first police dog named in the police department's "name the puppy" contest.  Police spokesperson Const. Howard Chow says the department is planning a public memorial event at a local armoury next month.  The Vancouver Police Department has 16 dogs. Nitro was the seventh to die in the line of duty since the gog squad was formed in 1957. 
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Barks, yips and howls punctuate police dog funeral in Vancouver
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ` Tuesday, February 7, 2006
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Hundreds of police officers stood at attention as a funeral for one of their own was punctuated by howls and yips.  A cacophony of barking arose Monday as 92 police dog teams they paraded past a shrine and urn containing the ashes of Nitro, a German shepherd that died in the line of duty two weeks earlier.  Nitro's handler, Constable Howard Rutter and his wife Carolyn, son Matthew and daughter Megan sat in the front row in Seaforth Armouries and fought back tears for much of the 70-minute service, which included three eulogies and a multimedia production on an overhead screen. "There were so many times that I would be frustrated with Nitro and get mad at him, but all it took was him coming over and licking my face and all would be well again," Rutter wrote in a full-color printed tribute to police service dog No. 9755.
The funeral was preceded by a motorcade of 60 police vehicles with lights flashing. Many of the dog teams in attendance were from police agencies in neighboring Washington state, including Seattle, Everett, Yakima and Monroe, Nitro's birthplace.  Nitro, 8 1/2, a Vancouver police dog since 1999, died after lunging to grab a man sought for investigation of automobile theft, losing his grip and falling under the wheels of a train. By Sunday 185 messages of condolences had been posted on a police Web page set up for the dog. The man Nitro grabbed, Greg Daniel Pete, 26, was arrested and charged with possession of stolen property over $5,000.  In keeping with Vancouver Police tradition, Nitro's ashes will be spread on each of the four corners of the city, so he can guard Vancouver even in his afterlife.
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Canine colleagues gather to honour Nitro's courage
PETTI FONG   VANCOUVER -- It began with a lone howl. 
Then down the line of cars, dogs leaned out the windows to listen and the barking began. Canine units from the United States and British Columbia proceeded through downtown Vancouver yesterday, as dogs howled in the backseat on their way to the Seaforth Armoury, to mourn the death of police dog Nitro. The police canine died in the line of duty Jan. 23. 
Nitro was set to retire this spring after developing arthritis in his elbows. But that didn't slow the German shepherd down as he chased two accused car thieves who jumped on a train in New Westminster. 
When the train began moving, eight-year-old Nitro slipped under the wheels and was instantly killed.  Vancouver's police department hadn't expected Nitro's death to hit the public so hard.  Mourners from as far away as Britain began sending hundreds of e-mails and sympathy cards to the department. Nitro's death inspired some to write poetry and make crafts, such as wooden urns for the dog's handler, Constable Howard Rutter.  Others remembered beloved pets, posting pictures of their own dogs on the message board. It was all a bit too much for one Vancouver newspaper columnist, who wrote that mourners were descending into emotional quicksand when they began comparing Nitro to a human being.
In response, Sergeant Mark Tonner made what he called a bold statement: that he is convinced all dogs go to heaven. "Yes, I said it," Sgt. Tonner wrote. "Does that mean Nitro is chasing bad guys through sunny meadows, young and arthritis-free?" No, Sgt. Tonner reminded mourners, "there aren't supposed to be any bad guys in Paradise."  His voice cracking with emotion, Vancouver Police Chief Jamie Graham said Nitro inspired a special kind of grief. To those who say that Nitro's death was just that of a dog, Chief Graham said that's like saying it's just a husband or just a daughter.  "The stages of grief we feel over the loss of this great animal is not unlike the loss we would feel over the loss of a human partner," he said, as mourners nodded and wiped away tears.  The ceremony included more than 70 dogs paying tribute to Nitro, as their handlers led them to sit briefly in front of the memorial where the canine's badge, collar and urn were on display.  The piper leading the procession was almost drowned out by the barks and howls. Some of the mourners came during their lunch break wearing business suits and work uniforms. One woman carried white lilies with eight dog biscuits tied at the stem. More than 50 of the mourners purchased a $20 DVD about Nitro's life, which included images of his puppy days and a slow-motion montage of him running in a field.  Lorraine Mitchell, whose Rottweiler-shepherd mix, Moose, died three years ago, had tears in her eyes as she watched the procession pass on Burrard Street.  "I know there are some people who would think it is ridiculous to have this," she said. "But it's sad and real to many people, and it's a good thing that we can be so touched by a living being."  Nitro is being mourned not just as a pet, but as a police officer, said Stanley Coren, a University of British Columbia psychology professor who has written extensively about dogs.  Prof. Coren believes that is because Nitro represented more than an officer and a pet when he died in the line of duty.  "This is a dog whose name we happen to know because he did something we all know our dogs would do for us, protecting us for no other reason than because of their loyalty," he said. "This dog suddenly became a dog to make us remember all other dogs."
follow up submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA