Posted on the Putnam County OH Sheriffs Office Facebook page (12/28/17):
We have some unfortunate news regarding K-9 Beau. Since June, Sgt. Brecht, Beau’s handler, has witnessed Beau having a seizure on three separate occasions. Each time Sgt. Brecht immediately went to or consulted with our local vet. After this last seizure, our local vet, Dr. Baldridge, diagnosed him with Epilepsy. Due to the important work Beau does for the county and time and money spent making him such a great working K-9, a second opinion was received from a veterinarian neurologist at MedVet, a well-regarded vet clinic in Columbus. That neurologist came to the same diagnosis of Epilepsy.
Besides the few minutes during the seizures, Beau is just as normal and energetic as he always was. Epilepsy though requires medications to combat the seizures. These meds can alter Beau’s behavior. This fact can jeopardize court cases involving Beau’s alerts and “finds”. After speaking with Sheriff Siefker and Chief Deputy Warnimont, it was decided it would be in the best interest to retire Beau.
On a positive note, Beau will remain a Putnam County resident as Sgt. Brecht will be adopting and buying Beau himself as a member of his family!
You may still see him around the area! An unfortunate part of this, he’ll probably grow up to be an Alabama football fan, but whatever. 😉
Looking forward, we are purchasing another K-9. Due to the fact the K-9 program is funded solely by donations, we unfortunately don’t have enough funds at this time, so Sgt. Brecht is using his own money to jump on an opportunity for a great pre-trained K-9. We are asking for donations from the community for this opportunity to offset his costs. If you would like to donate, you may send it to the PCSO with the memo or specification “new K-9 purchase”. The address is 1035 Heritage Trail Ottawa, OH 45875. We appreciate your continued support of our office and the K-9 program!
