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Died – 11/15/19
Handler – Officer Justin Brown
West Plains, Mo. officers say tearful goodbye to K9 Tuk
Friday night, the West Plains Police Department said a tearful goodbye to one of it’s own. “He was an amazing dog. He taught me a lot. I feel like he trained me more than I trained him,” Officer Justin Brown told KY3. 7 years ago, Tuk joined the force. He and officer Brown became partners for life in 2018. “Whenever I came home and he’d come in the house with me, he got a hug before I did, by my little girl. So he meant a lot to us,” Brown said.Over his seven year career, Tuk responded to more than 430 calls for service. “I always told people I was the idiot at the other end of the leash,” Brown added. “He did all the work. If it wasn’t for him or any canine for that matter, our jobs would be so hard.” Tuk was medically retired back in April, not long after being diagnosed with the canine equivalent of Lou Gehrig’s Disease. “It got to the point where he couldn’t hold his hind-quarters up. It broke my heart everyday having to leave him,” Brown explained. Officer Brown didn’t want Tuk to suffer anymore. So Friday served as Tuk’s last day with his family. For his last meal, Tuk was treated to a pound of hamburger and a huge rib eye at Bootleggers restaurant. Afterwards, with his family and fellow officers lining the way outside his vet’s office, Tuk got the sendoff he deserved. “When I first picked him up, he kind of struggled a little bit, because he didn’t want to be picked up obviously. Again, I told it was all for him. I had nothing to do with it,” Brown said. Truly defining what it means to be a man’s best friend. “I’ll honor him everyday,” Brown exclaimed. Officer Brown told Tuk he needed to do one last thing once he got to heaven and found a fellow officer. “Tell him you are a police K-9 and you are reporting for duty.” Thanks to donations from the community, West Plains police will for the first time, have two K-9 officers beginning early next year.
