El Paso County Sheriff’s Office celebrates retirement of K9 helper Tuesday

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- How common is a retirement ceremony for a dog?

Not unusual when the dog is Taz, a member of the El Paso County Sheriff Office's K9 unit, and helps fight crime, enforce laws and apprehend suspects.

Taz received a cheeseburger cake and toys Tuesday during the noontime event at the EPCSO headquarters downtown -- which he pounced on the same way he pounced on suspects.

Deputy Nicholas Witherite began training and working with Taz in 2017 and the EPCSO said that Taz is one of the most successful K9s to work there.

"I've spent more time with him than I have with my family and my kids," Witherite said. "We spent 12 weeks training to get to know each other and trust each other. These (dogs) are so much more intelligent that human beings, and we screw everything up. So, being consistent is key with any of the dogs that we have. This was my first dual-purpose dog."

During his career, Taz was deployed 1,240 times -- apprehending nine suspects, convincing 130 others to surrender and helped deputies on 370 SWAT deployments.

He's also been involved with seizing $1.7 million in illegal drugs such as heroin, meth and black tar.

However, a dog's life in the EPCSO can be dangerous, and Taz is retiring because of two serious injuries suffered during SWAT operations to arrest dangerous and violent felony suspects.

So, at age 7, Taz will retire and spend the rest of his life with Witherite and his family at their home.

"He'll never be a pet," Witherite said. "He'll always be a K9. My wife can feed him but he won't interact with my kids."

Taz will join the wall of honor at the EPCSO, along with ten other K9s who served the office during the past decade.

He's a Belgian malinois who was 16 months old when he met his partner; Witherite speaks commands to him in a mixture of German and English.

"Law enforcement, they tend to prefer dogs from overseas because they like the bloodlines," Witherite explained.

Witherite is one of four K9 handlers with the EPCSO.