SAUGERTIES MOURNS CANINE COMPANIONS
Elementary school therapy dog, police dog are remembered fondly for their service
Two local dogs who made a difference in the lives of the Saugerties community have died, leaving their handlers and those who knew them missing good friends.
Ernie, a 13-year-old Labrador-shepherd mix, died June 21 of cancer as students at Cahill Elementary School — some of whom had relied on the animal for comfort on a daily basis — prepared to leave for summer vacation, said Laurie Freeman, a school social worker who worked with him in the district for six years.
Ernie began his time as a therapy dog at the Mount Marion and Cahill elementary schools and ended it as a part-timer at Cahill, Freeman said Friday.
Miky, a 5-year-old German shepherd and Saugerties police dog, died this week after a brief illness. His handler, Officer Jeremy Rushkoski, began working with Miky in February 2014, trained with him beginning in July 2014 and served with him on the police force starting in December 2014.
As of Friday, a veterinarian had yet to determine what caused Miky’s death, Rushkoski said.
Freeman said students and faculty at the Cahill school will memorialize Ernie with a plaque and plan to plant a butterfly bush in his memory. She said students gave her numerous handmade sympathy cards and letters.
In a tribute to Ernie that Freeman emailed to the newspaper, she wrote, “One of Ernie’s jobs was helping children get into the building. He once went on a bus to help a little girl who was lying on the floor unwilling to move. One look and kiss from Ernie, and she was up and laughing!”
Freeman continued, “Several times he jumped in the back of a van to coax a child to come in. He visited classrooms often, and the children were always happy to see and pet him . ... Ernie was known to make his rounds each morning to say hello to special staff members, enjoying a treat or two in return, and a bagel sometimes. He enjoyed going to school up until the end of his life.”
Miky also was no stranger to children. Rushkoski said he was not only a valued member of the Saugerties police force but also a cherished member of his own family.
The Cairo resident and father of three said his sons, ages 5, 4 and 19 months, loved the dog. “Some police dogs can’t be a family mem-
bers as well [as police dogs] because they’re high energy,” Rushkoski said. “But Miky had a unique ability to come home and relax on the floor with the kids.”
Rushkoski and his wife, Amanda, trusted Miky with their children, and Rushkoski said he trusted him with other children during visits to schools and events in Saugerties. He said the dog helped “impress on [children] at a young age that police are their friends ... and that 99 percent of the time, police dogs are not vicious ... or mean.”
Miky also did serious police work and helped other police agencies in the area with bomb detection and tracking.
Rushkoski said Miky always accompanied him on investigations after domestic disputes and once helped locate a victim in need of help after she’d fled into the woods behind her house in an effort to escape her abusive spouse.
“He tracked us right to her, and we were able to help her out,” the officer said.
Another time, he said, Miky was an additional “set of eyes” and helped him track an abusive spouse who had turned off onto a trail the officer had failed to notice. Without Miky, Rushkoski said, “we wouldn’t have caught him anytime soon.”
Miky also was trained in explosives detection and responded with police to bomb threats, Rushkoski said.
Miky will be missed not only by Rushkoski and his family, but by the Saugerties Police Department. Rushkoski said Chief Joseph Sinagra supports seeking grant money to get another dog for the department.
For now, though, “I want to get over his loss,” Rushkoski said. “Then I’ll start thinking about the future.”