Published: August 01, 2009 07:48 pm      

Cpl. Nick Mooney and Riko

Cpl. Nick Mooney hopes to have a police K-9 until the day he retires.

“I hope I’m 55 years old and there’s a dog in the back of my car,” he said. “I hope I have a whole yard full of dogs when it’s all said and done.”

Mooney’s interest in K-9s began when he was enlisted in the U.S. Army.

“I was in the military police, and the K-9 section had always interested me,” he said.

After leaving the military, Mooney was hired as a Fayette County deputy. At the time, a K-9 named Sampson was up for grabs.

“Sampson’s handler went into the military. They were taking resumes and I signed up for it and got it,” Mooney said.

Several months ago, 8-year-old Sampson died of cancer.

After grieving the loss of his beloved K-9, Mooney elected to take on another K-9, although he says no dog will every replace his first.

Already, he calls his new K-9 Riko a blessing.

“I love him to death. He’s very well-rounded. Friendly. To be one of our apprehension dogs, he’s very social. He won’t do anything unless I tell him to. If you were to walk up to him, he’d let you pet him if I told him to.”

Riko’s a 4-year-old Belgian trained in explosives detection, apprehension and tracking. He was donated to Fayette County by another police agency in March.

“Riko’s getting there. We’re a work in progress. He has to get used to me, and I have to get used to him. It takes a special bond to do what we do.”

Mooney says there’s a big misconception about police K-9s.

“A lot of people look at our police K-9s and think these dogs go out and they catch bad guys and find dope or they find bombs. These dogs, on more occasions than others, find missing children, Alzheimer’s patients. They do K-9 demonstrations at schools and churches.

“We do so much for the community and we don’t ask for anything whatsoever. Especially the dogs, that’s just what they love to do. Even if they could talk, I don’t think they would. They have such a high drive that all they want to do is just work for people.”

Riko is most often used for explosives since he’s one of only two bomb-sniffing dogs in the area.

Mooney says the more support the K-9 unit gets from the community, the more benefits it can offer.

“The more resources we get gives us the opportunity to do things and to get the training we need to further on our abilities,” he said.

“We have five amazing dogs here. We need more.”

Mooney says he’d like to see at least one K-9 per shift, per detachment.

— E-mail: jayres@register-herald.com´