APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) – The Appleton Police Department is mourning the loss of one of its K-9 officers.
“Big and slobbery. That’s one of the ways I can describe him. And just very gentle,” said Captain Gary Lewis.
Nine-year-old K9 Waskos had just completed his yearly spring physical, with nothing out of the ordinary.
“He had a clean bill of health. This was a sudden, acute medical issue. This was not expected,” Lewis told WTAQ News. “We knew he was going to get around 9 or 10 [years old], because he’s just a big dog. So we start getting worried about hip joints and knee joints as a reason to start retiring them.”
While Waskos was getting older, his handler felt he had about two years left before retirement.
Waskos started with the department in February of 2015. He helped with countless arrests over the years and assisted with specialized units and the SWAT team.
“Some dogs need to be put back up into their car right away, just because of how amped up they are. But Waskos, all the officers he worked with were able to come up, pet him, tell him ‘Good boy.’ He just had that gentle demeanor about him,” Lewis explained. “[But] he could also be brought into briefings, brought into demonstrations. He could be around people, he was just a nice dog.”
Overall, Lewis says Waskos was simply the poster boy for Appleton Police dogs.
“That’s the kind of dog we want, and that’s the standard we are holding. We held Waskos to that standard, and the dogs we’re looking for, we want them to be like him,” Lewis said.
The department is already working with their trainer in New Mexico to find his successor. Lewis says a new dog will likely arrive in town in July, a handler will head to New Mexico for schooling in early fall, and the new patrol team will debut in late fall.
