Mount Pleasant K-9 Bones retires

WISCONSIN -- Bones didn’t realize it Tuesday afternoon, but his retirement as a police dog had just begun.

The Mount Pleasant Police Department honored one of its own Tuesday afternoon on the grounds of the department, 8811 Campus Drive.

A few dozen officers turned out for the ceremony that sent Bones off to retirement after nine years working with his handler, Officer Dale Swart.
Several other police dogs and their handlers attended: four dogs from the Racine Police Department, one from the Racine County Sheriff’s Office, one from the Kenosha Police Department, and two others from Mount Pleasant.

 

Swart said Bones, an 11-year-old German shepherd, was retired because he was starting to limp on one hind leg and had some arthritis developing in one shoulder.

During their years on the job, Swart said, Bones did “a little bit of everything.” He helped collar suspects, sniffed out illegal drugs and found a loaded gun that had been used in a shooting and tossed in a wooded area.

He never had to bite a suspect, Swart said. With Bones, the bad guys always gave up.

Swart said Bones’ working life exceeded most police K-9s whose usual work life lasts 4 to 7 years.

“He was a tremendous asset to the Mount Pleasant Police Department and the community,” Mount Pleasant Police Chief Tim Zarzecki said later. He pointed out that all of his department’s K-9s have been acquired strictly through donations — not taxpayer money.

Bones’ replacement Ares, whose handler is Officer Eric Giese, started Sunday.

After Tuesday’s retirement ceremony had ended and all but a few guests had left, Bones looked relaxed as he ambled through a nearby field, off leash, nose to the ground.

(Journal Times - May 19, 2015)