Eros head study, hiding his half-ear, courtesy of his mother, although we told everyone it was bitten off by a criminal in a fight

Eros hanging out with his buddies, Reiko and Lex

Eros, my best friend

Eros retires

Eros playing pretty dog

Great bite! Our DPO1 trial in Chicago under Judge Mike West

Eros was Best Dog at our wedding, and even wore a black velvet bow tie

Me and Harald's police dog

Receiving my certificate from Alfred

Tom and I were married in German and the officers greeted us outside

at the German police station with my good friend, Harald Hansch

Ultimate Camo

ahhh...younger days for both of us!

photo announcing the new APD K9

meeting Princess Diana in England

I made the German headlines

I took Eros goose hunting. Can you find him in the picture? (a hint: look right in the center of the photo)

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Eros head study, hiding his half-ear, courtesy of his mother, although we told everyone it was bitten off by a criminal in a fight

My path was meant to cross that of Exx vom Heiliger Huegel.  He was born on January 12th; my appointment date to the police department.  And although his registered name was Exx, I found out later that his former owner's had called him "Bear".  Bear was the call name of the GSD I had to put down with hip dysplasia, and the reason I had gone on a mission to find another dog.  Our partnership was meant to be.

I only knew that the dog had been sold a a pet but returned at age 1 1/2 years.  Bob Hanus renamed him Eros, and it was love at first sight, even with part of one ear bitten off by his mother!  I spoke with the former owners several years later, to tell them all he had accomplished, and was told "he never gave US any indication of that!"  They had returned him when he became inconvenient.  He would try to get out the door and jump up at the fence and scare the neighbors.  Not only that, but the trailer they used to pull him to the cottage broke an axle and it was either fix the axle or get rid of the dog.  They dumped the dog.

That was my good fortune because that little dog gave his heart for me.  He had some bad turns of luck, though.  Just shortly after I got him, before we were to begin our service dog training, a lump on his tail was discovered to be cancerous and the end of his beautiful tail was amputated.  When we attended our initial training at the Alabama Canine Law Enforcement Officers Training Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, with the end of his tail still hairless, they called him the Rat-Dog.  In his later years, he suffered torsion during the night.  He was able to nudge me awake to rush him to the vet and he survived.  In fact, he was standing on a picnic table, barking at the other dogs later that same day!  Eros was a survivor.

After three years of submitting proposals, my department finally agreed to give the K9 Unit the go-ahead, so long as I raised all the funds and bought the dog.  I did.  To this day, I am convinced they did not believe I would accomplish that and their agreement was only because they thought I would fail.  Although I would never trade my experiences with Eros, probably the most miserable experiences in my life involved dealing with the Appleton Police Department regarding the K9 Unit.

He was never going to be a prize winning competition dog but he gave me all he had in the DPO trial in Chicago and then at the WPO Championships, even though he was on an incredible amount of antibiotics and suffering from a growth that was possibly cancerous. The vet said that, had he not been such a strong dog , he perhaps would have indicated there was a problem sooner but he showed no pain.   The tests were done and we went to the Championship with the belief that I would be losing him following the surgery scheduled for his return.  There were more than a few tears shed on that trip!  However, he did not have cancer after all.  He had a strangulated testicle, as the omentum had slipped through the inguinal ring.  It was a nasty mess and just like Humpty-Dumpty, they couldn't put all the pieces together again.  For the rest of his career, Eros was a neutered patrol dog and it made no difference to his work.

Eros was trained as a dual purpose patrol and narcotics detection dog.  He traveled with me to Germany to attend the Landes Polizei Schule fur Diensthundfuhrers in 1990 and earned his PSP (polizei schutzhund prufung) there.   Eros opened many doors for me.  Through him I became involved in the sport of Schutzhund and eventually took him from BH through SchH 3.  I was able to travel to various dog seminars and trials throughout the country and meet some wonderful, wonderful people who have helped me tremendously.  One of those people was Harald Hansch, who arranged my training in Germany.  Harald was a police officer, instructor and judge and a wonderful man.  He has since passed away.

Tom and I were married while I was in Germany.  Eros was "Best Dog" and wore a black velvet bow tie.  No dog had been allowed in that government building like that, and I think it made the man nervous to have a patrol dog in his chambers.  All the officers from my class stood with their dogs outside as we exited.

While I was at the school, several administrators from the Lancashire Constabulary in England came to visit and invited me back to see their facility.  Following the close of my studies in Germany, I flew to England to visit for a week. You will never guess who I met.   Princess Diana!  She was quite beautiful and I was in awe of meeting her.  When she spoke with me, she asked me how the "boys" were treating me and was very pleasant.  When I returned home, no one believed that I had met the Princess but I have the photos and videotape to prove it.

Back at home, Eros and I searched buildings, tracked, located drugs and dead bodies.  I have books of newspaper clippings of his successes and notes of thanks from the many community groups that we gave presentations to.  Eros was wonderful with children, and many of our demonstrations were for kids.

When Eros wasn't busy working or training or competing, we tried other pursuits.  Sheep herding didn't work out well.  He was too hard on the sheep and I was going to need a deposit to repeat the performance, or acquire a taste for sheep myself.  He did love to swim and would retrieve anything I asked.  He would retrieve a live, thrown pigeon and return it unharmed, as if he knew the difference between the pressure required for that as opposed to a fleeing felon.  Having a German Shepherd Dog for goose hunting is the ultimate camouflage! (and no one will try to steal your blind!)  

Finally, I asked to retire Eros.  He was having problems with stiffness in his hips and it was time.  The Department did not replace him.  I asked for an animal license with his badge number to be awarded for the remainder of his life.  They refused. The Post Crescent had several very nice articles and people in the community wrote in dismay and outrage, but it made no difference.  There was no fanfare, no recognition the day he left.  Does it matter to me?  Yes.  I think he was owed so much more for his service.  But he was, and always will be a Hero in my heart.