Ailing search dog undergoes surgery
Wednesday, February 4, 2004
LaNIA COLEMAN
THE SAGINAW NEWS
Saginaw Police Officer Joaquin Guerrero picked up the radio in his patrol car Tuesday morning and, perhaps for the last time, called out the end of the shift for his search dog, Rookie.
From Our Advertiser
Since 1997, the German shepherd has tracked down crooks, entertained thousands of schoolchildren and even searched for victims of the 9/11 terror attacks in New York.
Rookie was to undergo surgery today to remove a cancerous growth in his jaw.
Guerrero said he doesn't know if Rookie, 8, will come home.
"Monday was his last night of work," said Guerrero, adding that Chief Donald F. Pussehl Jr. has put Rookie on "sick leave."
"Rookie did his last vehicle check, and he did it just like he always did. But I could tell afterward that he was tired," said Guerrero, who was to take Rookie to his own veterinarian early today and, from there, head to a specialist in the Detroit area.
"The surgery could save his life," Guerrero said. "I'm not going to write him off. Rookie is a fighter.
"The specialists will be looking at how far (the cancer) has gone. So far, the MRI showed nothing in his brain or nasal cavity. It's just in his mouth and jaw."
The Iams dog food company sponsored the MRI last month in Washington, D.C., as part of a study on Ground Zero search dogs. Iams is paying a portion of the cost for Rookie's surgery.
Iams specialists told Guerrero that Rookie is the first dog that worked at the Trade Center site diagnosed with cancer.
"I can't say if it has anything to do with Ground Zero," Guerrero said. "It could have something to do with the exposure to whatever was out there."
Guerrero, and his wife, Cari, spent a week searching the wreckage at the World Trade Center site with Rookie and Cari Guerrero's search dog, Felony.
Felony, 7, is fine, Guerrero said.
"The news (of the cancer) floored me," he said. "I immediately flashed back to when he was a puppy, and everything we went through after Sept. 11. I hated to walk that gauntlet.
"It's rough, and I have my moments."
The vets have said they can't predict how long Rookie will survive.
"It all depends on when he stops eating," Guerrero said. "He's still eating his meals, but not like a normal dog would. He's taking his time."
The Guerreros' commitment to their dogs is outstanding even among K-9 handlers or pet owners.
Cari Guerrero works with Felony in the Saginaw Township Police Department, and the couple is training a third German shepherd, Apache, for police work. Joaquin Guerrero credits Rookie with inspiring him to start a nonprofit foundation to promote gang and drug resistance to schoolchildren. Founded in 1998, Guerrero named the operation Precinct 131. The digits were taken from Rookie's badge number.
Guerrero's presentations have included a puppet version of Rookie and a remote control Rookie robot that rides a motorcycle. School children once collected pennies to buy bullet-proof vests for Rookie and Mohawk, the Saginaw Police K-9 handled by Officer Ruben Vasquez II.
In November, the Guerreros completed construction of a 4,000-square-foot dog training compound behind their home in Hemlock.
"A lot of people don't realize that he's not just a dog," Joaquin Guerrero said.
"How many people can take their best friends to work with them? We've been through thick and thin together. He's found bad guys hiding in bushes who could have hurt me. These dogs are like our kids." t
LaNia Coleman and Andy Grimm are staff writers for The Saginaw News. You may reach Coleman at 776-9690 and Grimm at 776-9688.