The Auburn Police Department has said goodbye to not only one of its officers but an especially good boy. 

K9 officer Rocky has retired after eight years of service, Auburn Deputy Chief Tim Cougle announced in December. Rocky, a black-and-tan German shepherd, was the K9 unit’s single officer at the time of his retirement. 

Bought from a vendor by the department in 2013, Rocky joined two other dogs in the K9 unit three years after it was established in 2008. His name is in honor of Officer Rodney “Rocky” Bonney, who was killed in the line of duty in 1981.

Officer Donald Cousins was paired with Rocky after his first two years on the force, becoming an integral part of Rocky’s work as a dual purpose narcotics and patrol dog, adapting to perform the necessary functions in those respective beats. 

“I call Rocky the duality dog,” Cousins said. “When he was at work, he was focused and always wanted to know what was going on. His eyes were always out his window watching to see if he was going to get to work. When he walked through the door when he got home, he would relax and greet the family and just be a dog.”

 The bond between handler and K9 is a give-and-take relationship at the heart of a successful partnership. They use each other to identify and apprehend suspects and contraband, and their communicative skills are constantly tested and refined.

“Rocky and I were attached to each other all the time,” Cousins said. “Your dog becomes your life, especially when they are (starting), and you need to spend many hours perfecting their craft.”

The pair also live together when not on duty.

Training for a police dog is a rigorous and repetitive process because desired behavior need be reinforced in the dog constantly for it to retain what it has been taught and apply it in the field.

During Rocky’s 12 weeks in patrol school, he was trained in tracking, apprehension, article searches and handler protection, investigative and protective measures, which served to establish his 30% success rate, considered outstanding for a K9 officer.  

Rocky also received narcotics training in a separate, eight-week course during which his handlers simply imprinted the scents of crack, cocaine, heroin and Methamphetamine on the dog.  When the dog is able to recognize and identify these odors, he sits and stares at their source. Dogs are trained in a variety of settings and situations, being exposed to vehicles, rooms, people, packages and outdoor areas.

During his career, Rocky had been deployed in the field 348 times, assisting in numerous drug detection cases, apprehensions and searches. He has tracked and found more than 25 suspects and missing people, and has helped Auburn police seize 533 grams of illegal drugs in the community. 

 “From finding missing children and suspects to locating drugs, we would have never found them if we didn’t have the dog perform his search,” said Cousins, who has worked in the K9 unit for six years.

Cousins said he remembers a case where he and Rocky found an 8-year-old girl who ran away from home in the middle of January. 

It was great to find her, Cousins said, adding she certainly was not dressed for the weather.

Rocky’s tenure as a K9 officer is the average length most dogs serve. Trained from a young age, most dogs will last until about 8 years old. Rocky’s retirement is due to health issues, which bar him from meeting the level of tenacity and aggression required of police dogs.

 “The discipline of the dog also greatly impacts the length of service. For instance, a narcotics dog has a much less physically demanding life than a patrol dog,” Cousins said. “A patrol dog is doing aggression work (and) tracking suspects. It needs a high level of agility than a dog who is just sniffing for drugs.”

During his well-deserved retirement, Rocky will continue to live with Cousins and his family.  

“We thank this amazing dog for his years of dedicated service,” said Auburn police Chief Jason D. Moen. “He’s smart, he’s strong, he’s determined and loyal. We really couldn’t ask for more than that.”

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