K-9 Officer Drago retires: Deputy gets custody of police dog | News, Sports, Jobs

(Photo by Brett Dunlap)
Wood County Sheriff’s Department K-9 officer Drago, a German Shepherd, officially retired on Oct. 23. On Thursday, the Wood County Commission signed over ownership of the dog to his handler, Sgt. Taylor Phillips. Drago served with the department for six years.

PARKERSBURG – After six years of service with the Wood County Sheriff’s Department, K-9 officer Drago is retiring.

On Thursday, the Wood County Commission approved a measure that turns over ownership of the 9-and-a-half-year-old German Shepherd to his handler, Sgt. Taylor Phillips.

Drago was 3-and-a-half years old when he came to the department from a kennel in Ohio after receiving training in Germany. He and Taylor went through six weeks of training together to learn to work together.

“He was trained in narcotics detection, apprehension, tracking and article searches,” Phillips said. “He is a jack-of-all-trades and well rounded.”

Phillips commended his sense of duty in that he could apprehend a fleeing suspect and then go to a community event and let kids pet him and love on him, all in the same day.

“He has one of the best personalities in a dog I have ever seen,” she said.

During his time with the department he went to a lot of schools and community events.

“Everyone was able to pet him and love on him like a regular dog,” Phillips said. “He would then be ready to go back out on the street and ready to bite someone.”

Drago was actually good for the morale in the sheriff’s department as everyone would interact with him and everyone could see him go out and do his work as well.

“He has done his service and has worked really hard,” Phillips said. “I have trained him really hard in the last six years to make sure he was ready for anything we would face.”

Drago was Phillips’ first K-9 and she is in the process of training the next K-9 officer.

“He has protected me personally and the other deputies in the community and on the road,” she said, adding the most recent incident was in June when they had a fleeing felon who was combative. “Drago apprehended him and the guy fought with us the whole time until we were able to get him into custody.”

Following that incident, Drago had to take a couple of days off because he was sore and could not walk very well.

A few years ago, Drago had an injury where his spinal cord was bruised and inflamed and had to take a month off, Phillips said, adding he now has arthritis in his back and his hips.

“At 9 1/2-years-old and at 90 pounds, he is a larger dog so we made the decision to retire him, so he could live out the rest of his life without having to work until he couldn’t work anymore.”

Commissioner Jimmy Colombo commended both Phillips and Drago in how they have represented the department to young people and different groups.

“I have seen you with a few different groups giving your talks and demonstrations,” he said. “You both are assets in doing that. It is just awesome.”

The department has another K-9 and the Parkersburg Police Department has three with a fourth one being trained, officials said.

Chief Deputy Mike Deem said Phillips and Drago have quite a social media presence with followers from all over the world.

Phillips talked about all of the things the dogs have done for the department.

Just having “K-9” on the side of a car gives people pause, she said.

There have been a lot of calls when suspects run when law-enforcement arrives.

“I roll up and they just stand there,” she said.

“They see ‘K-9` on the car or they hear stories (about police dogs in action) and they think ‘I am not going to run from that dog.’

“You can’t quantify all of the things that they do or prevent. They are amazing.”

The average life expectancy for a dog Drago’s size is 10-11 years, but Phillips hopes she can get him beyond that.

Drago’s official last day on the job with the department was Oct. 23.