Changing of the guard

A rookie police dog is raring to go, while the arthritic veteran he is replacing must rest quietly in the shade.

By AMY HERDY

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 27, 2000

CITRUS PARK -- The two canine deputies stood poised for play as handler Matthew Hall lobbed the black chew toy across his yard.

[Times photo: Mike Pease] Hillsborough County Deputy Matthew Hall works with his canine partner Rico as Bo watches. Bo is joining the team as Rico's future replacement.

Within seconds, the smaller, younger dog with the wolflike face had chased it down, kicking up leaves as he tore across the grass.

The older, heavier dog soon slowed, then turned to lope back for a rest in the shade.

"You've got the rookie and the veteran here," observed Hall, a Hillsborough sheriff's deputy who works mainly out of the District 3 office in Citrus Park.

And the veteran is starting to watch the passing of the leash, as it were.

Rico, a laid-back 85-pound German shepherd with the ability to become a fierce police dog, has enjoyed a noted five-year career that included locating 50 suspects. But now, slowed by arthritis, he has gone into semiretirement.

His replacement arrived in August, a skinny German shepherd puppy from the Czech Republic named Bo who has blossomed in a few months to show tremendous promise, Hall said.

Now Rico, trained to sniff explosives, enjoys life from inside Hall's home as Bo lives in the working dog kennel in Hall's back yard.

"He could still work, but you never know, one day he could go down," said Hall of the 8-year-old Rico, who suffers from arthritis in his front legs.

"He's still got a good nose on him, so we'll use him for explosive detection."

Meanwhile, the 74-pound, 15-month-old Bo, who Hall describes as having "high drive," made his first catch last month after only four days on the job.

During the first week of the Florida State Fair, a man wanted on theft charges ran from deputies through the fairgrounds to a lot of semitrailer trucks across U.S. 301.

"It was pitch dark," recalled Hall, who knew deputies were close when Bo stopped sniffing the ground and looked up.

There was the suspect, hiding atop a truck.

"When he caught up to the man, he knew it was different from training," Hall said. "Then he was ready to rumble."

His drive was a trait that Bo showed soon after joining the Sheriff's Office.

"When training with the guy in a dog bite suit, Bo would hit the guy and he could lift him up off the ground, and the dog would hang on," Hall said.

The pup showed the same trait at home.

"He used to jump up and hang on the chain-link fence by his teeth. But he's settled down a lot."

So has Rico, who occasionally pouts about retirement by standing next to Hall's patrol car and refusing to budge.

For the most part, Hall said, Rico is getting used to being a house dog.

"He lets me know when it's bedtime," he said. "He just kind of groans, gets up and goes into the bedroom."

- Amy Herdy can be reached at (813) 226-3474 or herdy@sptimes.com.

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