K9 Baxter – Venango, Pennsylvania

Handler – Deputy Ryan Williams

K9 Baxter Dies

The Venango County mourns the loss of eleven year old retired K9 Baxter. Deputy Ryan Williams and Baxter, a bloodhound was trained for fugitive tracking and search and rescue purposes.The pair visit schools and educational events like the annual Agricultural Safety Day in order to teach students safety techniques when traversing wooded areas. Williams explained, they really gotten positive feedback from the community for the K9 Unit. All of our funding for the K-9 program is on donation basis.The public’s been very supportive of our program. Williams said numerous organizations have donated to the K-9 Unit, but they could always use more support. The unit has been training several officers in ground and tactical tracking in order to assist bloodhound operations. Williams and Baxter recently attended the National Police Bloodhound Association seminar in McHenry, Maryland, a week-long program where they trained in basic trailing.Baxter is a single-purpose trailing dog, meaning he tracks people by utilizing their scent.Baxter was donated to the Sheriff’s Office by a bloodhound breeder in Cherrytree Township who trains search and rescue dogs. He was trained as a search dog for six months and was ready for duty when he turned one.As far as Williams knows, Baxter is the first K-9 in the history of the Venango County Sheriff’s Office. Williams said he and Baxter have been successful in tracking fugitives.

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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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