K9 Baco – Portage County, Wisconsin

Handler – Deputy Dan Wachowiak

Veteran Portage County police dog Baco dies

Recently-retired police dog Baco has died after a battle with cancer. The Belgian Malinois was put to sleep while surrounded by his family, according to the Portage County Sheriff’s Office. The dog worked for the Sheriff’s Department for more than six years. He was a drug sniffer. The department called on Baco more than 800 times during his career for tasks such as vehicle searches, building searches and manhunts. He was involved in more than 370 arrests. Officials retired Baco in September at age 10 after learning that he had cancer in his lungs. Baco then lived at home with his former handler, Deputy Dan Wachowiak, and Wachowiak’s wife Jill. Wachowiak recently returned from Indiana, where he and his new K-9 partner, Yent, trained together for more than six weeks. They started patrolling together about a week ago. Baco rested comfortably at home, until the very end.

Tags

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.
| Old Memorials | Site Map
Copyright © 1973 - 2024 Louise Krause Memorials to Fallen K-9's Hosted By PC-GEEK Site Maintained BY Jim Cortina