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Died – 3/23/22
Handler – Officer Patrick Kenny
West Melbourne officer mourns loss of K9
Officer Patrick Kenny said K9 Boton “lived to work and lived to please his handler.” “He could turn it on and turn it off,” Kenny said. “He could one minute be at work and be in the zone, and then as soon as he got home, he was just, you know, just like a regular house dog.” Wednesday night, the West Melbourne officer stood by his retired K9’s side as the almost 13-year-old Slovakian Shepherd died. An ultrasound performed earlier that evening by a veterinarian found a growth that was getting ready to hemorrhage, Kenny said. Fluid had spread to Boton’s heart and metastasized. Boton’s passing was “100% unexpected,” Kenny said. Kenny could count on Boton to greet him when he came home from work and eagerly eat his meals. But on Wednesday, Boton didn’t get up to see Kenny, and he refused his dinner. Sensing something was wrong, Kenny pushed on Boton’s stomach. When Boton yelped, Kenny knew something was wrong, saying that the dog normally had a very high pain tolerance. In the year or so leading up to Wednesday night, Boton had lost some weight, but other than that, he had been his normal self. “He’d walk around, jump on the couch, do whatever. Nothing changed,” Kenny said. Despite retiring in 2016, Boton was always ready to go to work with Kenny.”Every time I would go to the door, he would think, ‘We’re going to work today?’ And I’d tell him, ‘Hey, you’ve got to stay here, you’ve got to do your job at the house,'” Kenny said. Boton came under Kenny’s care in July 2012, and the two “hit the ground running,” according to West Melbourne Police Chief Richard Wiley. The two were together through 1,117 deployments, 161 arrests and 29 vehicle seizures. Boton performed many tasks, including community demonstrations, drug sniffs, building searches, tracks, area searches, article searches and criminal apprehensions. Kenny said some of his favorite memories working with Boton included an incident involving seizing money during a cocaine arrest and locating a suicidal person in Melbourne. On the job, Boton enjoyed the company of other officers, as well as community members, Kenny said. “He was everybody’s buddy,” Kenny said. “He would run around the (police department), go visit people and he had a great time. But he really liked doing the public events, because he almost knew like he’d be showing off for people.” At home, he enjoyed Boton following him everywhere and “him being him,” he said. At home, he walked around with a ball or a frozen applesauce cup in his mouth — a favorite snack. At night, he patrolled the house, sleeping for 30-minute intervals before getting up to check on everyone. And he was always by Kenny’s side. “His whole life was about that ball and just pleasing me,” Kenny said. “He was just a really good-natured dog.”
