Air Force's top beagle calls it a career

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By Scott Schonauer, Stars and Stripes European edition, Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Michelle Michaud / U.S. Air Force - Jake, the only beagle in the Air Force K-9 corps, flashes his badge. He retired Monday after 11 years of service.

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Michelle Michaud / U.S. Air Force - Staff Sgt. Trevyr Woodard and his partner, Jake, snoop around in the mail room at Lajes Field, Azores.

For almost 12 years, Jake has waddled around Lajes Field in the Azores sniffing for explosives and any illegal substance his nose can find.

He always has been dependable worker, but at 84 years old — that would be in dog years — he is an old beagle in a younger canine’s job. He can’t see too well, his hearing isn’t so good and bladder control is just a memory.

That is why it was time for Jake — the Air Force’s only bomb-sniffing beagle — to turn in his badge and hang up his collar.

“There were times when he just didn’t want to work anymore,” said Staff Sgt. Shayne Woodard, Jake’s security partner of two years. “He’s just really, really old.”

In honor of the four-legged cop’s years of service, dozens of friends, fellow security personnel and top base commanders gave Jake a retirement party to remember Monday.

During the send-off, security personnel offered a few words about their trusted comrade and gave him a certificate of appreciation and retirement orders.

He also received a steak dinner and a piece of cake.

Hey, at his age, dry dog chow is for puppies.

The ceremony was held at the base’s Top of the Rock club, where airmen could pay their respects to Jake during a military pass and review. As every airman gave Jake a pet on the back, they each offered a can of dog food as a gift.

Although the military considers dogs like pieces of equipment, giving each their own stock number, airmen at Lajes look at Jake differently: They consider him part of their base family and a member of the force.

“It’s hard for us to look at him as a piece of equipment,” Woodard said.

After almost a decade of police work, Jake will now live with Tech Sgt. Steve Demers, a security officer with the 65th Security Squadron.

His family was allowed to take Jake under a 2-year-old law that allows the adoption of military working dogs.

“It’s worked out well,” said Demers, who welcomed Jake into his home Aug. 27. “You would think he was always a house dog.”

Jake entered service in 1994 and arrived at Lajes Field in 1995, where he worked up until his retirement. At the time of his arrival, the Air Force was testing out smaller dogs to see if they could perform bomb-sniffing duties.

Although the Air Force has stuck with larger dogs such as German shepherds, Jake has remained a loyal worker and a beagle with a nose for finding explosives.

Handlers suggested he retire last September, but an Air Force review board wanted Jake to stay. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Jake often worked 14-hour days.

Because of his age and size, Woodard sometimes had to pick Jake up to have him sniff in hard-to-reach places.

“After September 11, our force protection stuff picked up quite a bit,” said Woodard, who describes Jake as a “cranky old man.”

“He couldn’t do the amount of work he had to do at the time.”

Rex, a 95-pound German shepherd, is Jake’s replacement. The base also has a German shepherd named Blitz.

Woodard, who is 6-foot-2 and has been a military dog handler the past 10 years, was a little disappointed when he first found out he would be working with a beagle. Most handlers work with larger dogs.

But Woodard and Jake quickly bonded.

“I never thought that I’d enjoy working with a beagle,” he said.

Now, he is considered a friend.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2002


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