K9 Lily – Connecticut State Police

Died – 10/12/17

Police K9 gets final salute before being laid to rest

Officers had a final salute for a state police K9 on Thursday. Lily served as a Connecticut State Police narcotics dog for nearly a decade and on Thursday her police family came together to say goodbye. Lily’s badge number 9011 and nine years of her life was dedicated to serving and protecting. “She sees uniforms and she just goes nuts. She knows a police officer right away and she was so happy to see everyone there with her,” said Deborah Gusto, of Wolcott. Lily served Troop L in Litchfield and Bradley International Airport. She was critical in a FedEx drug bust and did many walk-throughs at schools. Hard to say goodbye but Lily’s owner says it was time for the now 17-year-old retired K9. “Lily has been sick for quite some time, her quality of life was really going downhill, we decided the best to do for her was to send her over the rainbow and be free,” Gusto said. Police in Wolcott gave her a proper sendoff to honor the life and service of Lily the police dog.“She got her head up and she saw the sirens and she knew what was going on. She was very happy and I couldn’t thank them more for everything they did,” Gusto said.

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Submitted By Jim Cortina

James A. Cortina has been involved with police dogs since 1972 and currently on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Jim has been appointed as Treasurer since its inception in 1991. Jim is one of the charter members of the C.P.W.D.A. organization. Since 1975 he has been a certified professional dog trainer and received his Master Trainer Certification in 1985. During his career he has provided armed K-9 strike crowd control for security agencies in Connecticut and out of state security companies. In conjunction with other members of the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. Board of Directors, he helped to draft Connecticut Statute 53-247(e) "Intentional Injury or Killing of Police K-9" which was passed by the Senate in 1993 and also assisted in implementing the prestigious Daniel Wasson Memorial K-9 Award in 1992. In 1993 he helped coordinate the North American Police Work Dog Association Nationals in New London, Connecticut. He was appointed Training Director for the New London County Work Dog Association from 1985-1987. He performed decoy work for Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc. in police K-9 demonstrations, trained several local police department canines, and coordinated training workshops for out-of-state police departments. He participated in the United States Police K-9 Association Trials in Croton on Hudson, New York in 1985 as a decoy. He is an avid photographer and received photography awards in 1989, 1990, and 1991 and currently takes photographs for the Connecticut Police Work Dog Association Inc.
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