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Died – 3/16/17
1ST Handler – Deputy Andrew Heath
2nd Handler – Deputy Randy Martin
Deputy mourns the passing of his K-9 partner
Jovi, a 13-year-old retired police dog, woke up Thursday and stumbled around the house, struggling to keep up with buddy and partner, Tippecanoe County sheriff’s Deputy Randy Martin. When Martin let him outside, Jovi kept falling. Sadly, it was time. Martin knew it. His fiance, Lindsey Slack, knew it. Jovi might have even known it. “He’s going to want to be a part of everything, but he physically can’t,” Martin said of his 90-pound Belgian Malinois partner. “The mental aspect of this; I didn’t want him to suffer.” In his training to be a police dog handler, Martin learned never to let his dog fall on obstacle courses. It became clear Martin couldn’t let Jovi fall. “He had progressively been getting worse as far as his mobility. His back legs were really bothering him,” Martin said. “He never showed pain. You could tell he was struggling. He was pushing; he was giving it everything he had when he got up.” They made arrangements with their veterinarian to stop by the house late Friday afternoon, then planned a last day for Jovi to say thank you for his nearly 10 years of protecting Tippecanoe County sheriff deputies and being an ambassador to school children in the area, educating them about police dogs. There was Jovi’s last walk through the neighborhood with the help of a sling to take the pain off of Jovi’s back legs. Then they made a trip for ice cream, followed by a sirloin steak for dinner. Then it was home and time for final good-byes. Martin worked with Jovi since April 2011, and after Jovi’s retirement in January 2015, the pooch got to live out his days with Martin and Slack. Originally Jovi was partnered with former Deputy Andrew Heath. It was during one of Heath’s stops in dispatch in 2007, that Jovi and Martin met. Jovi introduced himself to Martin in a startling face-to-face meeting. “Two big leaps and he’s in the chair on top of me,” Martin recalled Tuesday with a chuckle, admitting it was a little intimidating given Jovi’s reputation as a tough K9 that brings down the bad guys. “He just sits and stares like, ‘What are you doing?’” That ferocious reputation was well earned, Martin said, but Malinois can turn off the aggressive attack mode, and Jovi enjoyed mingling around school children, who, in turn, loved giving attention to Jovi. During school presentations, Martin let Jovi off leash, and he roamed the bleachers, giving children licks to their faces in exchange for pats on his head, Martin said. “He was a big baby. He really was,” Martin said.The weekend was a painful one for Martin and Slack, he admitted. They are grateful for the support and words of encouragement from people across the state, Martin said. But it’s too soon to decide if Martin will take another dog as his partner. “We had a great career. We were together for seven years,” Martin said.
