The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office last week announced the retirement of the oldest member of the Canine Division, K-9 Hondo. K-9 Hondo began his employment with the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office in November 2003. K-9 Hondo is a 10 1⁄2 year old Belgian Malinois and was imported to the United States from the Czech Republic in 2003.

According to a news release, K-9 Hondo was Sheriff Gary Gulledge’s partner for many years. When Gulledge was elected in 2008, K-9 Hondo was passed to another handler. K-9 Hondo was most recently paired with Deputy First Class Brandon Kilgore. Kilgore and K-9 Hondo became an instant success, locating multiple fleeing suspects as well as alerting on large quantities of narcotics.

K-9 Hondo has been responsible for locating hundreds of pounds of narcotics which resulted in the seizure of many vehicles. K-9 Hondo has also been very successful tracking more than 30 fleeing suspects and locating them hiding. Furthermore, K-9 Hondo has performed hundreds of demonstrations for schools, churches, Boy Scout groups, clubs, associations, etc.