Geauga County sheriff's drug-sniffing dog Midge makes her debut in Playboy

OHIO -- Imagine his surprise when Geauga County Sheriff Dan McClelland got a call informing him that the department's famous drug-sniffing dog was pictured in the latest issue of Playboy, wearing nothing but a skimpy police vest.

"I was like, 'Yeah, right,' " said McClelland. "Then I started getting people calling with the page number."

Midge, his Chihuahua-rat terrier, had been featured in a one-page spread in People in 2007. After all, she is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's smallest working police dog.

But Playboy?

"I had to get one, but I wasn't going to go do it in uniform," he said. "So I called my wife."

And there was Midge, the Chihuahua-rat terrier in all her glory on Page 131, tongue hanging out, of course.

It was a tiny forum piece trumpeting the "new K-9 in town." New, of course, is relative. Midge is 5 (which is 35 in dog years, way too old for Playboy) and has been a cop since she was 1.

The sheriff says he had no idea the piece was being printed and said his friends and colleagues are giving him a lot of ribbing.

"I always thought hanging out with someone in Playboy would be more glamorous," he said.

"People ask if we've been invited to Hef's mansion. Do you really think they're going to invite a drug-sniffing dog to the mansion?"

(Cleveland.com - March 28, 2011)

Related:

• Geauga County Sheriff's OfficeBiography: K9 Midge