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Handler – Officer Tom Baracskai
Retired Elyria police dog Foky dies
The Elyria Police Department is mourning the death of its retired police dog, Foky, a beloved member of the team. Foky was retired from police work in 2013 and given to his handler, Patrolman Tom Baracskai, where he lived out the rest of his life as a treasured pet. “He was going to be 12 in July,” Baracskai said. “He had an illness, cancer, we found out around Christmas and it finally came to the point where we had to put him down.” Baracskai, who also left the Elyria Police Department in 2013, had requested to be a police dog handler when the opportunity came up in 2008. Foky immediately bonded with the officer and the rest of the department, who often were caught feeding him leftover food and giving him affection. “He was more like a cat in the way he rubbed up against you,” Baracskai said. “Everyone loved him.” Immediately Baracskai could tell Foky was special. “The level of intelligence was different because it wasn’t just, ‘Sit! Stay! Come!’ There were a lot of different things he had to know and he could turn it on and off,” Baracskai said. “He was the dog that could also sit on the couch and be friendly.” Baracskai said Foky was brought to Elyria from the Czech Republic and was initially worried that he wouldn’t understand English, but Foky picked up on it quickly. When Baracskai got him he was told that the dog’s name was Fokker, an aircraft used during World War II. But Baracskai said he had young kids in the house and didn’t want them running around yelling the dog’s name. “That’s how Fokker got turned into Foky,” Baracskai said. Baracskai knew it was time to say goodbye when the dog stopped being able to eat comfortably and the tumor on his mouth was growing rapidly and starting to bleed. His last day was spent running around Baracskai’s 12 acres in LaGrange and going for a ride in the car, which he loved. “Anything more special would have been harder for me,” Baracskai said. “It’s a tough loss for not just me, but for the family. I have five kids total and a couple were small when I got him.” The Elyria Police Department had not had a police dog since Foky.“The dog was just like a member of our department and certainly helped in a number of occasions,” said Elyria Police Capt. Chris Costantino.
