A Salute to All Law Enforcement K-9's and Their Partners

    Today's blog will be a little different from others that I have done over the past few days, today I would personally like to say thank you to all K-9's and their partners across the United States.  I was saddened to learn that one of my former Sgt.'s lost his K-9 partner over the weekend due to disease and I want to send out my prayers to Sergeant Jimmy Sanders and his family and also to Rico, his partner, who I know is in a better place now.  Most civilians don't realize what it truly means to be a K-9 officer these days, they are used to seeing the old photo's and video's of the 60's and early 70's and that is what they base their memory or thoughts on.
     Well times have changed and for the better, today K-9's are used for a variety of reasons, drug detection, bomb or explosives detection, human searching and tracking and patrol work.  The K-9 becomes part of the officers family and his or her best friend.  They spend most of their days together, whether working or not.  Rico was that kind of partner and he will be truly missed.  Rico was an explosive detection K-9, donated to the Lee County Sheriff's Office by the Opelika City School System.  If I know Sheriff Jones he is already working on a way to obtain another K-9, using the word replace would be inappropriate in this type of situation.
     I know exactly how Sgt. Sanders feels, early last year I lost my best friend in the world, my beloved pug Eli.  Eli died of cancer and was a fighter to the end but in the end I had to let him go, treatment was an option but not the kind of life he deserved and so the decision was made to put him to rest and to relieve his pain.  The last picture I have of Eli, is him laying on a sofa at the Auburn University Vet School, IV tubes running out of both front legs, obviously out of it on drugs but also very much in pain.  He opened his eyes for a brief moment as if to say goodbye and to ask me to help ease the pain.  He looked at me with those big brown eyes and I knew right then what had to be done.  I looked at the doctor and told them to go ahead and when I turned around to look at Eli he gave me a kiss and then he was gone.  I knew in my heart that the right decision had been made but god it still hurt so bad.  Here I was a grown man in uniform crying like a little baby because of a dog - but he was more than that, he was my friend and I miss him every day of my life.

 

     For those of you that don't believe in GOD or just believe in him when you need him, let me share this last story with you and then you decide for yourself.  Several weeks after Eli passed away, I called his vet to tell her the news, she had been out of the loop, since we had taken him to the Vet School and did not know he had passed away.  Eli had been first diagnosed with back problems and then we found out later what was really wrong with him, no fault of any ones at all.  Anyway, I called his vet and let her know what had happened.  She of course told me how sorry she was and then she said the most amazing thing.  She said " You know I was just thinking of you and your family yesterday and about Eli and how he was doing and I was going to give you a call to ask you a question."   I asked her what she was talking about and this was her reply, " my sister just got a divorce and she has a male pug dog that she can't take with her and her ex-husband doesn't want the dog and I was going to call you to see if you knew anyone that might want a pug because I know how much you and your wife love them."  This honestly made the hair on my neck (not head) stand on end and I immediately told her I would take him - site unseen!  I could not believe this was happening, first loosing my best friend in the world and then GOD sending me a new friend but I also knew I had one hurdle to over come and it did cause me some concern but I told the doctor I would take him!
     My hurdle was my wife, now don't get me wrong, she loved Eli just as much as I did and she grieved just as much as I did if not more.  The hurdle was going to be convincing her to take on another dog so soon.  We still had a house full, including Eli's sister who was not taking his passing any better than we were.  But you know what?  I had no reason to worry one bit, the minute I told her about our new friend she broke down and told me that she had, had a dream just that night about us getting a new friend and we both knew that GOD had sent him our way and so Max was welcomed into our home a few weeks later.  Now he is not a replacement for Eli and never will be ( I do have to admit I call him Eli sometimes) but he came to us needing a family that cared about him and a family that was suffering from a great loss - it was a perfect match.  A match made in HEAVEN!!!



     So the next time you see a K-9 officer please shake his hand and tell him or her how much you appreciate the job that they do and think about their friend (partner) that is in the back seat or by their side.  Knowing that one day they may also loose that friend and may need a shoulder to lean on.
     Thank you for letting me share this story with you, maybe some of you will find comfort in it.

Jack (Tommy) Carter
www.livethegoodlife.ws
www.southernbellemarketinginc.com