Calgary K-9 unit reels as third dog this year lost to illness
It’s an accepted fact of life for any police canine unit, but it doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking.
On Monday, Calgary police announced the unexpected death of police service dog Cisko — a sevenyear-old German shepherd that died March 6 from gastric torsion, a common and often fatal ailment in large-breed dogs.
This comes just weeks after the Feb. 16 death of former explosivesdetection dog and semi-celebrity Moose, and a little over a month since recently retired patrol dog Baro died Feb. 1 after a prolonged illness.
While saying goodbye isn’t anything new to veteran canine officer and unit boss Sgt. Jim Gourley, it’s a sad event that never gets any easier.
“Obviously, the handlers are devastated,” he said.
“It’s had a huge impact on his family and it’s having an impact on our unit — we all know these dogs and their personalities, just like any co-worker.”
In his career, Gourley’s had to say goodbye to two canine partners due to illness and old age.
“It’s tragic that we, since 1960, have lost dogs on a consistent basis, because these animals do live a relatively short life — especially the larger-breed dogs we have,” he said.
“It is something that we’re accustomed to within the unit, but it’s only been in the past couple of years that we’ve really recognized their sacrifices when we’ve lost dogs.”
Normally, the death of a canine partner was treated as an internal matter of the canine unit.
That changed a few years ago when Calgary police started paying tribute to canine officers that died.
Internally, Baro’s death was announced via an all-units ‘end of watch’ radio dispatch — a common tradition in many police departments upon the death of an officer.
That was followed by memorial posts to CPS social media accounts — the first time the service had chosen to pay tribute to a fallen four-legged member.
On average, a police dog can look forward to a career of five to seven years before retiring to a life of well-earned leisure and couch surfing.
Calgary police’s dog pack largely consists of German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois — breeds with life spans ranging from 10 to 14 years.
While the loss of Baro and Cisko bring the city ’s active canine complement down to 15, Gourley said the unit’s numbers won’t be down for long.
Purchased in January, a pair of year-and-a-half-old patrol dog recruits are undergoing training, and are expected to earn their badges and be on the streets by the end of the summer.
They’re training alongside two other new additions to the CPS kennels, destined for careers in cadaver and explosion detection.
“One of the handlers is moving on to other areas of the service, so that new handler and new dog are going to learn together,” Gourley said.
“Training the dogs is easy, but quite often training the human partner actually proves to be the difficult part — the dog being so much smarter.”
As the unit grieves, Gourley said the outpouring of public support has been an incredible comfort — especially since Cisko is Mr. March in this year’s CPS K9 Heroes Calendar.
“The support we’ve been getting from the community has been fantastic,” Gourley said.
“We’re actually quite shocked at the response.”