Fallen K9 Ryder of the Athens County Sheriff’s Office perished in a fire at his handler’s rural Ohio home last month, alongside a domestic housedog and co-protector named Bane.
Ryder, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois, had been with the department for over two years and was just one of three police dogs in service there.
However, the other two are highly specialized bomb sniffers, whereas the fallen canine was a “dual-purpose” dog, in that he could both serve in ordinary patrolling and suspect tracking, in addition to detecting narcotics.
Days before the tragic house fire that claimed Ryder’s life and that of his four-legged companion, the K-9 had just aided the Athens Major Crimes division and, in that capacity, was instrumental in apprehending two individual drug dealers during separate traffic stops.
He and the deputy sheriff whose home burnt to the ground trained together and lived together. A vital team that served their community well, that officer is now grieving the off-duty death of his canine partner, said a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office.
"We, as a community, have suffered a great loss," the deputy in question, John Kulchar, said in a published statement honoring his fallen K9. "We will always remember K9 Ryder, a hero among us all. He will never be forgotten."
