“That’s pretty spectacular. If you look at that 50.5 percent of his activity led to some kind of narcotics arrest. This is a highly skilled animal,” the chief said.
Dover’s biggest drug detection netted 20 pounds of marijuana in a suspicious postal package. That led to an investigation that procured 80 more pounds, according to Holzworth. And that was early in Dover’s career.
On another occasion, police were pursuing a juvenile suspect when an officer lost his city-issued cell phone in a park. They put Dover on the case.
“Off he goes, five or six minutes later, he comes trotting back and has the phone in his mouth,” Holzworth said.
In 2008, a suspect that had held a woman at knifepoint was hiding. “After hearing Dover bark, the suspect did what intelligent suspects will do, and surrendered. So all it took in that instance, was a bark from this great dog,” said the chief.
Last year, police were called to help find a man with Alzheimer’s disease who had been missing for several hours. Dover tracked the man for half-a-mile and found him.
Dover’s handler, Sgt. David King, told council, “I’ve been a K9 handler longer than I’ve been a cop … for me, it’s one of the greatest jobs in the world.” Council awarded Dover with a plaque for his loyal service.
“We’re here to celebrate, actually, two wonderful careers. A K9 by itself is a dog that’s pretty smart and really pretty skilled, but without its handler, they’re not a team,” Holzworth said.
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