Duco was born in the Netherlands on January 16, 2008. He had a six-year career with the Medicine Hat Police Service as a cross-trained, patrol and drug detection police service dog.
Duco was an extremely valued tracking dog with over 150 criminal arrests throughout his career. His extreme level of drive was exemplified during a mid-afternoon track when two suspects crashed a stolen van and fled into the relentless terrain of the coulees. Duco quickly picked up the track that took them on a one-hour, seven-kilometer track through the river valley. Luckily the two suspects tired before Duco and his handler and they were subsequently located and arrested.
Early on in his career, Duco was injured while clearing a residence with his handler on a high-risk warrant. He fell through a booby-trapped floor hatch, causing him to fall 10 feet into the basement and injuring his back. He recovered and continued to work, but eventually his injury caught up with him and he was forced into retirement at the age of eight.
When Duco was a young police service dog his vet referred to him as “an accident waiting for a place to happen.” During this time he made many visits to the vet as he seemed to do everything with 100% speed, often times causing minor injuries in the process. One night, while training, Duco ran through a plate glass window… it barely slowed him down!
Duco’s back injury was the cause of his retirement but that has been managed with medications and a lowered level of activity. In his later years of retirement Duco has developed hearing loss and just recently it was discovered that he has a bone chip in his right elbow from an undocumented break that had happened at some point during his career. The bone chip has began to cause serious pain and mobility issues. Duco is now on several medications to help manage all his arthritic aches and pains.