January 19, 2018 at 3:37 p.m.
City to host retirement ceremony for police dog
City to host retirement ceremony for police dog
Drago retired in late December after nearly nine years on the force with his human partner, Sgt. Angela Mertz.
"We will be recognizing Sgt. Angela Mertz's dedication to the program and thanking the major donors who made the Rhinelander Police Department K-9 program possible," the department said in a press release announcing the ceremony.
The event will be held at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 30 at Rhinelander City Hall, 135 S Stevens St (upstairs council chambers).
As a dual purpose certified police dog, Drago was responsible for detecting narcotics and other drugs as well as other aspects of patrol work, including tracking, evidence recovery, building searches and more.
He joined the department in April 2009 at the age of 2.
"Usually around 10 years old they start looking at retiring the dogs," Mertz said in a December interview. "But we really kind of left it up to Drago. He is still capable of performing his job, this is his most favorite thing to do. So as long as he was able to work and physically able to work, we let him. He has some nerve degeneration in his hindquarters, so that is when we kind of came to our decision that this year was going to be his last year."
The department plans to add a new dog to the force this spring.
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