BANDO TO RETIRE, NEW RECRUIT SOUGHT

Brando is the Sumner County Sheriff Department K-9, an 8-year-old Dutch
Shepherd who has dedicated six years of service to the department.

"He lives for the work," said Deputy Danny Ellis, K-9 handler.

Unfortunately, Brando has begun to develop some hip problems and has had to
retire a few of his duties as a patrol dog. Soon, he will retire from the
department altogether.

Ellis says Brando no longer does the bite work because the training was
hard on his hips so they couldn't keep him certified in that area.

Brando was initially trained as a bark and hold dog by the Kansas Highway
Patrol in the first year of his training, meaning that if he sets out to
apprehend a criminal who runs or threatens them, he will stop if that
criminal stops, even without the verbal commands of his handler. Ellis says
this is a very difficult training technique.

After that year, Brando was purchased by the Sumner County Sheriff's
Department because of a timing issue with the the Highway Patrol training
schedule.

Brando is also trained to enter a building and apprehend criminals, so that
an officer might not have to walk in on an individual who is known to be armed.

By dropping some of those patrol duties, Sumner County Sheriff Gerald
Gilkey says they hope to prolong Brando's drug detection work, a key
component in his aide to the department. Brando has also assisted
departments in Harper, Cowley and Sedgwick Counties, as well as responded
to several calls from the Kansas Turnpike.

Brando is an apt drug dog, with the ability to search for drugs in
vehicles. Ellis says this has been an asset to the department in drug
discovery because when Brando alerts on a vehicle, the officers can then
search it on the spot, even without a search warrant.

Brando is also skilled in tracking individuals, as he has proven by
locating a loose inmate in Mulvane and ending a foot chase from the
Turnpike, among other cases.

Another of his skills is evidence searching. In any given area, he can work
it alone to alert his handler to any items with fresh human odor. In a
common trick shown at D.A.R.E. camps, Ellis will throw his keys into an
open lot and then send Brando to find them, and in seconds Brando will lay
on them to alert Ellis of their location. Ellis said he will also alert to
items which are foreign to the area, such as a red brick in the middle of a
grassy field.

It's anyone's guess how long he will continue that work.

"It's up to him and his hips to decide when he'll retire," said Ellis.

Ellis said they are looking into the purchase of a K-9 to bring to the
department when Brando retires. It will be a lengthy process of lining up
the dog and handler, who would likely train the dog for a month or two to
prepare it for the Kansas Police Dog Association training. Ellis would then
train the dog through the academy and keep it through its service to the
department.

The dog will likely cost the department $7,500 for a dog. Training for drug
detection and patrol, with abilities including drug searching, tracking,
evidence searching, building searching, handler protection, and criminal
apprehension, will bring the total near $10,000, a goal Gilkey says they
soon hope to meet through fund-raising efforts now underway.

It's an exciting time, to be adding another to the department. Ellis says
they don't know if it will be a male or female, and says they will not name
it either.

The transition is exciting for Ellis, who says he looks forward to retiring
Brando from his life of work.

"I look forward to when I retire him because I can take him to the park and
let him play," said Ellis.

After retirement, Brando's life will be for the first time that of a dog
able to chase ducks and rabbits, swim in the lake, fetch frisbees and get
toys and bones just to be spoiled.