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Died – 11/3/16
Handler – Officer Bill Bogdala
Winthrop Harbor police dog Lando dies
The Winthrop Harbor Police Department’s announcement that its young police dog, Lando, collapsed and died during training Thursday drew immediate reaction on social media and showed how much the community cared for the canine. There were crying emojis and messages on the department’s Facebook page: “RIP Lando…thank you for your service to our community,” “RIP LANDO!!!” and “So sad.” “We are all very saddened,” said Police Chief Joel Brumlik. “Lando was an outstanding canine. He did lots of public relations, but when he needed to do a job, he did. “It was equal parts public relations and work. Lando assisted other police agencies throughout Lake County,” Brumlik added, saying Lando was used to check Antioch High School lockers recently. “It’s been a very big loss for the community and the department,” he said. Lando was a 3-year-old German Shepherd and his handler is Officer Bill Bogdala, who trained him at Tops in Dog Training in Grayslake, which handles a majority of the police dog training for the area. Lando had been schooled in advanced tracking, drug interdiction and search techniques through June of 2015, when he graduated and became a working police dog for Winthrop Harbor. Lando replaced a retired police dog, Drago, who still lives with Bogdala. “It’s been just over a year now,” Bogdala said. “He was just a lighthearted dog, not your typical police dog. But he was a giant, a really big dog, but he was friendly with everyone. “We did a lot of training and vehicle searches. We recently went out with other canine units and did locker searches at four schools in Antioch. He gave a couple of indications.” Bogdala, who has worked as a K9 Officer since 2005, said Lando got his name because Bogdala’s family has a cabin in the Land O’Lakes area of Wisconsin. Bogdala added that his wife and 7-year-old daughter also miss Lando, but his daughter has such a big heart. “She was more worried about her dad, because she had never seen him cry before,” he said. According to Bogdala, Lando was just doing some light training Thursday afternoon when the dog suddenly collapsed. Because Bogdala is on leave for an injury, he was unable to pick up the dog so he called other officers for help.”We went lights and sirens to the Harbor Animal Hospital, but they couldn’t revive him,” Bogdala said. There will be some tests to try and determine what happened and to rule out any foul play, which is not suspected.As for getting another police dog, it’s too early. Brumlik said he would support whatever Bagdala wanted to do, and he’s still unsure. “It’s too soon to tell. I didn’t expect to lose Lando like this,” Bogdala said. “Deep down, I think I want to (get a new dog), but right now I just need to relax.”
