A Boy and His Dog

When I was 8, I knew that I wanted a K-9.  That dream was realized in 1998 at Winooski PD when K-9 Kilo was delivered to our front doorstep, a donated dog whose mission in life was going to be to save me from bad guys (and myself), track down bad guys, bite bad guys, and find bad guys' drugs.  He was a little 6 week old pup, with big feet, and huge ears. Winooski businesses provided the funds to begin.

Monday night Kilo died during surgery from complications of a really bad infection.  My friend (Dr. Howard) and his staff did all that they could. I was with him. I will miss him.

Kilo has been my best friend, my partner, our family member, a co-worker, and an all around great dog.  He served me (us) well up to his last week.  He helped me through some rough times, tracked down some really bad dudes, found some drugs, helped the Po-Po snag some drug money, located a few runaways, and saved my ass more times than I can count. 

Kilo was the star of the show at dozens of demos at schools, colleges, Boy Scout meetings, Special Olympic events, daycares, public events and camps, and hundreds of people had the opportunity to see him work, see him bite one our many chew toys (you know who you are, especially Akerlind, Ziter, and Lamoureux)), scratch some cars (thanks Fish and Soons), find some drugs, and wag his huge tail and carry the bite sleeve around like a little princess, eventually jumping in the cruiser with the bite sleeve that doesn't fit through the window.

Many of you had the opportunity to feed him, of course just dog food (Diana, Pat, Gail, Squaw), and if you didn't he would stalk you until you caved in (Barton, Chief).  Sometimes he would come home fat, but always happy. 

Frisbee throwing will never be the same.  I will probably continue to find little pieces of frisbee (and long black dog fur) for many years to come, at home and at Colchester PD.

Thank you all for your help during these past years. Your help, intentional or not, helped make Kilo the dog that he was and made the K-9 program here what it has become.

I’ll never forget the little puppy squeals when he was excited, the chasing the flashlight, the shredding of boxes, the eerie sound of him upon entry into a building, and the going nuts on the floor for no apparent reason except that he still heard McCullagh’s voice in his head. My children will have to learn to clean up after dinner a little better without Kilo around.

Check out our website (www.tcpa.com) for some cool pictures of Kilo.

We will all miss him.

Office Dave Dewey