In a page-out to law enforcement, a 911 dispatcher marked the end of duty for Ozzy, a 7-year-old K-9 who ended his career Friday with the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office.

Ozzy spent his five-year career along his handler, K-9 Deputy Cody Hawman.

Hawman said it would be an emotional goodbye, but his wife and young son will be glad to have Ozzy at home more often.

“He’s my partner, he’s my best friend, he comes to work with me, to live with me; I spend more time with him than with anyone,” Hawman said.

Ozzy served as a patrol and narcotics certified dual-purpose police K-9. He and Hawman have over 120 deployments together assisting seven different local agencies and resulting in over 50 arrests. Hawman said Ozzy’s specialty is tracking drugs, evidence and people with his powerful nose. Across his career, Ozzy helped seize over 20 pounds of illegal narcotics.

Hawman said Ozzy will be missed at the sheriff’s office, especially by Fenix and Sali, the other two police K-9s on the force.

“People love dogs at work, and so I think he's going to be missed by all of the employees at the Sheriff's Office,” Hawman said.

Ozzy, 7, is a Czech Republic-born German Shepard purchased by the Sheriff’s Office from Rocky Mountain Canine Academy. Ozzy officially belonged to the Sheriff’s Office until Friday, when Hawman formally adopted him.

After spending over 28 dog years going to work with him every day, Hawman said Ozzy plans to spend his retirement sitting on the couch, fishing at Haviland Lake and running alongside four-wheelers with his family.

Hawman said the Sheriff’s Office uses police K-9s as “another tool in their tool belt” for enforcing the law. “They can smell a lot better than we can and alert us to things like human odor, narcotic odor, evidence in a field,” he said.

Hawman said police K-9s provide a nonlethal use of force that can help de-escalate situations with suspects after other avenues have failed, keeping law enforcement and suspects safer.

“When going hands-on doesn’t work, tasing doesn’t work, they’re still fighting us, we can get a dog and then the dog bites and the person finally surrenders,” Hawman said. “So we have another tool to try to successfully take someone into custody with the least force used as necessary.”

Hawman said the Sheriff’s Office funds its K-9 Unit using donations from the National Police Dog Foundation, an organization that raises funds to purchase, train and provide veterinary care to police K-9s.

“We want to let the public know that Ozzy completed a successful, fruitful career because he’s their dog,” Hawman said. “The dogs are funded off public donations – their donations purchased Ozzy.”

Hawman’s father, Chuck Hawman, owns Durango Animal Hospital and also performs veterinary care on the police K-9s for free, so Ozzy will continue to enjoy free veterinary care in retirement, Hawman said.

Hawman said it will be bittersweet going back to work without Ozzy. He’s happy that his partner gets to finally relax and enjoy his golden years, but it will be lonely sitting by himself in the patrol car.

“He’ll still be my best friend, and I get to look forward to coming home to hangout with him,” Hawman said.

nmetcalf@durnagoherald.com