Gwinnett County is retiring one police dog and training another puppy.
The K-9 Ares joined the Gwinnett County Police Department in 2009 and was retired earlier this month to live with his handler, Corporal Scott Fransen.
Ares “has come to the end of his effective serviceability,” the department said.
The department also agreed last week to accept the donation of another dog. The Dutch Shepherd puppy has not yet been trained or named.
That K-9 is worth $2,500 and was won by Fransen as a door prize at a Canine Handler Instruction and Training Seminar in Florida in August.
It was donated by Metro-Dade K-9 Services.
The new puppy is about five months old and will be trained to help find missing persons, said Corporal Michele Pihera, a police spokeswoman.
Normally, police dogs are taught to bite and hold until a handler has signaled for release. This dog can be trained “through manipulation of other drives, such as a toy being the reward for successfully locating the prey,” an application to accept the puppy’s donation said.
Last year, the police department responded to 45 cases of missing juveniles. While most were found quickly, the application said, some hide or in areas that are not easily accessible. The K-9 can also help search large areas more efficiently.
The police department has nine dogs that are used to find drugs or people, three narcotics detection dogs and two explosives detection dogs.
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