From Officer Dewey

January 22, 2007

I just want to start out by saying thank you to all the students (and the teachers for allowing it to happen) for all the cards, artwork, drawings, etc that were put on display at the open house in December in honor of K-9 Kilo.  I know Kilo had the opportunity to meet a lot of people, but to be faced with all that in one shot was impressive.  I am hoping to update the school on what we're doing with photos, training stuff, and eventually some good calls we get. 

Right after Kilo died, Dr. Paul Howard of the VT Veterinary Surgical Center in Colchester offered to help pay for a new dog.  He also mentioned that he had a plane (co-owned with some friends) and would fly me to wherever necessary to look at or purchase a dog if we decided to go that route. 

I found a breeder on line (tristatecanine.com) and after several on line and cell phone conversations, I decided that the dog he had for sale was the right one.  I had looked at some German Shepherd Dogs, but I knew I would never be able to replace Kilo and felt that a change would be healthy for me and my family.   I focused on the Belgian Malinois, a distant relative of the Shepherds.

On December 16, Dr. Howard, the head trainer for our state wide program Bob Ryan, and I flew out to Ohio to evaluate a dog.  His name was Tagor (pronounced funny, so I changed the name).  We evaluated him, tested him, had some x-rays done, and put him through whatever we could at the time.  He passed with flying colors.  We flew him home that night, and I began working with him a few days later. 

We later changed his name to Tazor to make it easier.  Since arriving at my house, I have been working on getting him house broken (finally done I think) and now we're doing some basic obedience.  Real Police dog training should be starting soon.  More to follow next week........

Officer David Dewey and K-9 Tazor

Colchester Police Department

(802) 264-5555

ddewey@dps.state.vt.us