SEVEN-YEAR-OLD POLICE DOG HAS SNIFFED OUT 5,000 POUNDS OF DRUGS

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. (AP) -- Five years of chasing suspected criminals
and sniffing out thousands of pounds of drugs has taken its toll on Hank
the police dog.

At age 7 and still alert, Hank patrols the city's streets nightly with his
owner and senior police officer Kevin Childe.

In three weeks, Hank will retire with one of the top records among police
dogs in Orange County.

"It's sort of sad to see him decline," said Kevin Childe, who has been
partnered with Hank since the pooch was 2 years old. "He's spent the best
five years of his life working for me and the city."

Hank has tracked 5,000 pounds of dope in his police career and has caught
more than 125 fleeing suspects. But the work has been hard on the sharp dog
that used to be strong enough to endure three-hour searches. Today, working
with a weak back, he limps around after 30 minutes.

Hank is considered a wonder dog of the department because he is hardly ever
wrong, Childe said.

Childe and other officers were once looking for a suspect they thought had
run through a back yard. As officers discussed plans to search the
neighborhood, Hank began barking at a truck a few feet away.

Childe said he told Hank to start searching, but the dog refused to budge
from the truck.

"I looked where Hank was barking, and there was the guy hanging under the
truck with his legs over the axle," Childe said. "He was sweating bullets."

Like most suspects Childe said he's come across, this one didn't want to
mess with Hank. "It's amazing, you have a gun threatening to shoot them and
they won't listen. Hank just barks and they come out," Childe said.

Many police dogs don't adjust well to retirement and are known to die soon
after, Childe said. But the officer hopes the bond he and Hank have
developled will help the dog through his golden years.

"I've committed five years of my life being married to this guy," Childe said.