K9 Sabor – Littleton, Colorado

Died – 9/24/18
Handler – Officer Brent Kieffer

Police Say Goodbye To K9 ‘Sabor’ In Littleton

Littleton’s retired police dog, K9 Sabor, has crossed the Rainbow Bridge. The Littleton police department announced Tuesday that the retired police K9 “passed away” Monday after serving nine years on the force. “It is with great sadness that the Littleton Police Department announces the passing of retired police K9 Sabor,” the department announced. Sabor was officially retired on Feb. 22, 2017 after working with police K9 Officer Brent Kieffer since 2008. According to the department, the male German shepherd was “deployed” more than 800 times and “logged more than 1,500 training hours,” the city said in a press release. Sabor helped with more than 30 arrests, the department said. During his career, Sabor also helped locate almost 440 grams of drugs and 122 drug paraphernalia items, as well as $12,890 in cash. But it was not all work for Sabor. The dog and K9 officer Kieffer also participated in around 230 public K9 demonstrations for events such as Littleton Police Department Citizen’s Academy, the Littleton Police Department Junior Police Academy and National Night Out. Students also saw him at Littleton schools for police demonstrations over the years. Sabor and officer Kieffer even served as “grand marshals” in the 2017 Western Welcome Week parade. The department was proud of the many certifications Sabor achieved. The department still has a department with K9 dogs. K9 Koda works with officer John Jones and K9 Zan works with partner officer Krista Dimock, the department said.

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.