On Friday 7/16/04 Wyatt Earp passed away while at home with Ed and his family.  He was a member of the Beaverton Police Department K9 Unit beginning at eight weeks old on October 26, 1994 when his handler, Ofc. Ed Gosse picked him up.
During Wyatt's career, he had over 2702 calls for service and assisted 23 different agencies. Wyatt helped recover $7,610.00 worth of property and evidence.  He apprehended over 79 suspects and assisted in 33 other capatures
He will be impossible to replace and extremely missed.

I think that the best example of Wyatt's personality and it's unpredictability is when he located a bad guy one day and urinated on a child's leg at a dog demo the next.  On March 12, 1997, I was contacted over that air by another handler for Washington County , Gary Jensen.  Gary said that he had just been shot in the chest by a suspect that he run and asked if Wyatt and I would track him for Gary.  Gary had suffered minor injuries due to his vest.  Wyatt and I found the suspect, survived a shoot out with him and successfully prosecuted him for attempted murder on a police officer. During the next couple of days, Wyatt and I were praised for our efforts.  I coulnd't say enough about my dog!  And the department recognized his work. I later went to a police dog demonstration at a local school and proceeded to tell these children and their teachers about how Wyatt could do such spectacular things and Wyatt decided to show these people just how spectacular he could be.  Wyatt walked over to one of the children , gave him a sniff and pee'd on his leg!  The school yard was silent, followed by a huge gasp from all the children and, in unison, "He pee'd on Jake!"   All I could say was, "Gosh, he's never done THAT before."  Wyatt: one extreme to the other!!!   Ed

NORTH COVENTRY -- Flags flew at half-staff outside the township building this week in tribute of Officer Wax, the police departments recently retired dog. Wax was put to sleep Monday after suffering paralysis, possibly from a stroke, early in the day.  Lowering a flag to half-staff might seem an unusual honor for a dog, but, well, Wax was no ordinary dog.  "He was never a pet," said Sgt. Paul Holliday, Wax’s handler. "He was my partner. He was a companion. He was a friend."  At a Board of Supervisors meeting that evening, supervisors’ Chairman William Deegan paid homage to Wax. He remembered fondly the time when Wax chased a burglar up a tree and trapped him there. "He got a commendation for that," Deegan recalled.  Deegan often joked that Wax was his favorite township employee -- the only one to lick his hand in greeting.  "He’ll be well missed," Deegan said, "particularly by the children in the schools. They loved Wax."  Holliday, who taught a Drug Abuse Resistance Education program at North Coventry Elementary School, Coventry Christian School, and West-Mont Christian Academy, regularly brought Wax with him.  "He came into all my classrooms every day," Holliday said.  Holliday had worked with Wax since the dog joined the North Coventry Police Department in December 1997 as a certified patrol and narcotics detection dog. Wax, who was 8, retired in February after he began having seizures. A new dog, Griff, recently joined the force. 
According to Holliday, Wax provided the township and nearby communities with invaluable assistance by tracking burglars, finding lost Alzheimer's patients and locating hidden narcotics.  "He was a great protector to me and a loyal protector of the citizens of North Coventry and surrounding areas," Holliday said.  Holliday cherished the relationship he had with WAX.
 "Its a very special relationship. He and I have been together 24/7 ever since we started our training together. I put the trust of my life in his paws, and he put the trust of his life in my hands."  Wax rarely needed any instructions from Holliday when they were out patrolling or were called to a crime scene or narcotics search. "He always knew what to do," Holliday said. In that sense, Wax was essential as an investigative tool for the department. His keen sense of smell enabled him to sniff out drugs in unusual places, such as under attic floorboards, Holliday said.  "If we didn't have a police dog, we wouldn't have found the narcotics we did," he said.  For Holliday, the relationship he had with Wax is difficult to describe.  "When you're working with a canine, you spend so much time together, he knows just what you're thinking," he explained.  The new dog is being handled by Officer George Hollis, who recently completed an intense, four week training program with Griff. Holliday, as a sergeant, has more administrative responsibilities and therefore could not take on another canine partner.  What will Holliday miss most about Wax?  "That friendship," he said. "That loyalty. That trust."
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Update:   K-9 member joins North Coventry police  The police department has added a new member to its ranks. Greif, a 2-year-old German shepherd, recently finished his training with his handler, Officer Robert Hollis. Hollis, who has been with the department for three years, said Greif will benefit not only North Coventry, but the surrounding townships as well.  "This benefits everyone," Hollis said. "If another department needs a K-9 for a search or anything else, we’ll be able to help out."  Greif is trained in tracking, building searches, drug detection, aggression and obedience. The 77-pound dog, whose lineage has been traced back 25 years, is lean and looks perfectly capable of convincing any bad guy to surrender. But the dog doesn’t bother much with people, or even other dogs, unless Hollis tells him to.  "We don’t really socialize him," Hollis said. "He’s trained to respond to me, and he does."  Out of the police car, without a leash, Greif is focused on Hollis’ every word and movement, even as dogs play in a nearby park. At his handlers heels, he patiently awaits the next order. The commands are quick, unmistakable and delivered in Hungarian, a language Hollis chose from a list of many the dog is able to understand.  The price tag for the animal, a four-week training session and some adjustments to Hollis’ patrol car to safely transport Greif tops off at about $11,000.  But the benefits of a properly trained police dog, according to Hollis, are worth far more.  "These dogs can be trained to do anything," he said. Greif’s reward, even for obeying instinct-defying commands like a "call off," where the dog is first told to attack and then called off before actually reaching the target, consists of a few kind words and a tennis ball. It seems to satisfy the dog, however. He chews the ball and lights up whenever his handler speaks a kind word or offers a pat on the head.  Police dogs often take an officers place in dangerous situations, such as building searches and foot pursuits. Greif will be added to a roster of area police dogs, including two in Pottstown -- one trained to detect drugs, and the other trained to detect explosives.  While voluntarily leaping into harms way is an admirable trait, the dogs really earn their keep with their sense of smell. Everyone knows a dog’s sense of smell is far beyond the meager limits of the human nose. But the way it was described to Hollis at training paints a much clearer picture of the dog’s olfactory abilities.  "If you or I walk into a pizza shop, we smell pizza," Hollis said. "If Greif walks into a pizza shop, he smells tomatoes, oregano, cheese, garlic -- every ingredient in pizza. They can pick out each scent."  Greif can expect a career of about seven or eight years with the department.  His  time off, and his eventual retirement, will be spent with the Hollis family.
submitted by Jim Cortina, Dir. CPWDA