THOMASVILLE, GA (WALB) - One of Thomasville Police Department's finest officers is ready to retire - a K9 named Hado.
Part of retirement means Hado gets to spend his newfound days off relaxing as an official part of the Powers family, although his handler Sergeant Daniel Powers says Hado has been unofficially part of his family since his first day on the job.
"Kinda the interesting story with me is that I didn't get to pick my dog he picked me. His name is Hado and I left it at Hado because it means destiny. It's like we're destined to be together," said Powers.
For the past eight years, Sergeant Powers and Hado have served as partners at the Thomasville Police Department.
"He's been the absolute best partner anyone could ever ask for," said Powers.
Those eight years have been spent fighting crime and forming a very special bond.
"I wish I could have half the energy and enthusiasm he does because he just loves work and loves to come do his job. I am no more than a carrier for him. I take him to where he needs to go. He gets all the recognition for it because he does all the work," said Powers.
Being a K9 Handler isn't easy, in fact, you spend many months training and getting to know each other.
But for Sergeant Powers, it is very much so a rewarding job.
He still remembers the first "track" that Hado did, finding several suspects responsible for an armed robbery and car chase.
"We got the phone call in the middle of the night. It was the first track where he went out and found someone and I compare it to when your kid hitting a home run for the first time at baseball. It's rewarding to watch him work," said Powers.
The K9 Department serves a special purpose and adds a huge resource to their team.
To give you an example, it would take five officers about two hours to search a building the size of Walmart.
It takes a K9 five to ten minutes.
As a team, they have accomplished a lot and their partnership shows that the police department is committed to taking drugs off the streets.
With more than 1,000 drug arrests and 100 felony arrests, these two have made quite the pair.
Their job has sent them as far west as the Alabama state line, south to the Florida line and all the way up to Cordele.
With any job comes retirement, we all hope, and now it's Hado's turn to retire.
"It's very lonely inside my patrol vehicle without having him there with me," said Powers.
Over the past eight years, Hado has earned many awards.
One of which named him the top dual-purpose dog for his region, scoring the highest in the patrol and narcotics fields out of 100 other K9s.
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