- De Pere's first police K9 since its previous dog retired in May started work this month
- Tony, a 2-year-old German shepherd, joins the force after training in Germany and New Mexico
- He is a "dual-purpose" dog, doing both detection and tracking
- Tony works with Officer Tyler Dawson, an eighth-year patrol officer
- Video shows Tony interacting with Officer Dawson
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Tony is De Pere's first police canine since May, and he's reporting for duty.
Tony starts work this month, after coming to the U.S. from Germany and training in New Mexico.
He does both detection work — looking for illegal drugs — and tracking work — searching for suspects and missing people.
The police department says they missed having a canine for the last six months, and hope to add another next year.
Tony works exclusively with Officer Tyler Dawson, who's been on the force for 8 years. Officer Dawson says Tony has a good work-life balance so far.
"People can come up and pet him," Dawson said. "He's a friendly, sociable dog, yet he knows when to turn on the work mode. There's different things that signal 'this is time to work,' and then 'hey, this is time that you can relax and be a dog.'"
Tony's normal shift will be 2 p.m. until 10 p.m., so keep an eye out for him and Officer Dawson in the community.
