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Tribute to Cliff

Tribute to Cliff

Cliff Fyduska
Police K9

I discovered you as a ten month old green German Shepherd from Slovakia. You were meant to be for another handler but I discovered you were keeper. My standards were extremely high and you passed all my screening tests with flying colors. The thought of training you and all the potential you showed excited me. I remember testing your hunt drive two days after picking you up. I threw a tennis ball about thirty yards into a tall field. You searched your heart out for a solid twenty minutes before locating the ball. Your intensity to locate the ball was the same from the first minute to the last. I remember a fellow handler looking at me and saying there is no way you are selling this dog. With an devilish smile I agreed he was a keeper. You progressed rapidly through my three month training course and worked the road for our first shift together by one and half years of age. You filled in some big shoes replacing my aging but still eager partner.

I feared you were to young and immature for the stress of the job. You proved me wrong and we never looked back. We worked for a small town with a minimum amount of K9 calls for service. We never turned down a request and we gave 100% on every deployment. We earned a reputation as a hard working and honest K9 team and were called to assist many other agencies. I remember best when you tracked a purse snatcher to his home and located the woman’s pocket book along the way. I also remember the time when you tracked down an armed attempted homicide suspect. Your success on these and other calls I believe helped convince that agency’s administration to start their own K9 unit.

You never once backed down from a task I asked you to do. You have searched eagerly for armed suspects placing yourself between me and my potential death. You have searched buildings after break-ins with me not knowing if you would come out alive. You were a tool first and a partner second. You have kept me from harm by completing tasks most officers would rightfully refuse to do themselves. Many times I placed my trust in your sense of smell that we would make it home at the end of the night.

I remember the time you taught me a lesson when searching cars for dope. I placed you inside the car and you began searching with great intensity. I had forgotten to remove the car keys from the ignition and before I knew it you had stepped on the door lock button and locked yourself in with the windows rolled up. While we attempted to slim jim you out you began digging on the center console alerting to a find. I was terrified you might get in the console and ingest the dope. So here we are trying to get you out and we receive a request from another agency to run a track for a stabbing suspect. We finally got you out and found a crack pipe in the now torn up console. Off we go to the next call with a major lesson learned.

We attended many seminars and learned together always eager to advance ourselves. I remember at a decoy seminar the instructor performing a stake out test and stating to the class that you were about as perfectly balanced in drives as you could ever ask for in a working dog. I was so proud of you that day.

You achieved your Police Utility Dog certification two years in a row with the North American Police Working Dog Association. I recall after the apprehension phase a Master Trainer stating that you were a super dog! He even wrote super dog on your evaluation. While there may have been some sarcasm involved I truly knew you were a super dog! You had achieved greatness in my eyes and we still had many years to come. I could not have been any more proud of how far we had come from the day I discovered you.

You were with me on April 11th, 2005 when I was involved in a fight for my life. You were stuck in the back of my patrol car with lights flashing and sirens blaring as a high speed chase came to a dramatic conclusion. You witnessed me exit the vehicle and become engaged in a gunfight. It was over for me as soon as it started having been shot three times and retreating for cover over an embankment. My radio had broken when I had hit the ground from the impact of the shot to my chest. I was unable to call for help and I remember feeling isolated from you and not sure if you survived the hail of gunfire. You were confined to the patrol car during the entire incident and when it was over I was out of your sight. How traumatic it must have been with the siren still blaring, lights flashing, and spent bullet casings scattered about and you not knowing where I was. I was rushed to the hospital not knowing if you had been injured. I remember how concerned I was about your well being as I lay in the hospital. I was told you were perfectly fine and had been taken to a neighboring agency’s kennel. I was adamant that you be brought to my home immediately to be there when I arrived home from the hospital. We survived this encounter together and we would recover together.

We returned to work two months later and we never skipped a beat. We worked very aggressively for close to a full year making many arrests before finally deciding to move on with my life and career. With nothing left to prove to ourselves we retired from work as an active K9 team. We were leaving at the top of our game but the decision was made and it was time to move on.

The transition was tough for us both and you grew very frustrated with the lack of activity in your life. We moved one month ago into a new home with eight acres of room to run and retrieve. I was eager to transition you to search and rescue work and give you new purpose but little did I know time was running out for you and I together.

Over the last six months you have gone from being as healthy as can be to having an unknown gastrointestinal problem. I changed your diet several times fearing you developed a food allergy but this proved not to be the case. Your initial blood work came back normal at the Vet’s office. We placed you on a new diet prescribed by the Vet and you improved within a few days. I began to have hope until two weeks into the diet your health came crashing down over night. Your gastrointestinal problems had returned and you were very lethargic and would collapse from exhaustion after walking a few feet.

We arrived at the Vet’s office and they would draw more blood for testing and take x-rays to check for cancer. The initial x-rays showed no signs of cancer. The first vein they tried appeared to have collapsed and the second lead to a traumatic discovery. The Vet stated that you were severely anemic and would need a blood transfusion immediately. Entering the picture was Jack a wonderful Golden Retriever who lives at the hospital. Jack’s blood was supplied to you through transfusion and you began to get your strength back. We left you at the hospital remaining optimistic knowing that you would not give up without a fight.

A few hours had passed and we received a call from the Vet with news that additional x-rays showed that you had ingested a nail. The Vet believed all the health issues we were dealing with were more than likely from zinc toxicity. I gave them the green light to do immediate surgery to remove the nail.

A few more hours had passed before receiving the news that you had passed during surgery. We were informed that not only did they find the nail in your stomach but you also had a cancerous mass on your pancreas and a hole in your intestine. You saved me from having to decide your fate as I did with your predecessor and for this I thank you. I regret any lost time where I may have taken you for granted.

I only wish I could have one more hike, one more retrieve, or just one more moment with you at my side. Fate as it is, it is time to move on and I bid you farewell my friend and partner.

You will always be in my heart and I shall remember you as you were.


Rest in Peace.

Police Service Dog & Best Friend
Cliff Fyduska
1/8/2002 – 10/26/2007