Officer Ryan Irving has served with narcotics sniffing K9 Brutus since the dog came to work in Monroe in 2003. Brutus retired May 1. Photo courtesy of the Monroe Police Department

Polly Keary
Editor

It’s not every cop who retires, but continues to share a house with his former partner.

But Brutus, a police narcotics dog that has worked on the Monroe force since 2003, will have a home with his handler Officer Ryan Irving until he goes on to his canine reward after his May 1 retirement.
    
It’s a fitting retirement for the dog, who started his career with Irving after undergoing training.
    
And although Irving had worked with narcotics dogs before, including in the police reserves before he started full-time in Monroe in 2000, Brutus was Irving’s first assigned K-9 partner.
    
As a narcotics dog, it was the black lab’s job to sniff out drugs and other contraband such as paraphernalia.
    
Brutus, working with Irving, had a distinguished career, said Administrative Director Debbie Willis.
    
“Their service together has brought a multitude of extensive narcotics finds and search warrants, seizing drugs based solely upon canine alerts by K9 Brutus,” she wrote. “Our agency has benefited greatly from their valuable teamwork and experience. We will miss Brutus and his true professionalism and drive.”
    
Brutus sniffed out evidence often, and once found two kilos of cocaine in a garage.
    
But his duties didn’t end there. He also did many demonstrations for school kids and at public events such as National Night Out Against Crime, searching out training tools in seconds to the astonishment of onlookers.
    
The work is hard on police dogs, though, said Irving.
    
“It takes a lot of exertion to go sniff around cars and people,” he said. “Their endurance goes down after a while.”
    
And so even though Brutus has only lived about half his expected life span, he has put in a full career in his seven years on the force.
    
“He’s starting to show his age,” said Irving. “He’s slowing down.”
    
One of the things that Irving enjoyed most about working with Brutus was seeing the dog’s enthusiasm for his work.
    
“It was seeing how excited he’d get just for a rolled towel,” said Irving. “That’s his toy. He’ll do anything for that towel.”
    
Brutus has always had more fun at work than at home, because that’s how handlers keep their dogs motivated. But now that Brutus is off the job, his home life includes more recreation now, said Irving.
    
Still, Brutus tries to get in the car every time Irving goes anywhere, he said.
    
And Irving misses having him.
    
“The hardest thing to get used to is not having him sitting in the back of the car,” he said.
    
Now Brutus’ old car is in use again for a new K9 unit that has joined the force, and the Monroe Rotary Club is in the midst of a fund-raising campaign called K9 Crusade, to help outfit the car with the equipment needed for K9 use.
    
But Irving will not get a new dog himself.
    
He has been promoted, and no longer will work with K9s.
    
So it will still be Irvng and Brutus, only now, it will be all play and no work for the partners.
    
“He’ll stay with me and be my pet,” said Irving.