Page 464 - NIXBOOK

Two more stories about being on call and getting called in while off duty. I
remember one night, December 23rd. It was dark and kinda rainy/snowy out.
A drunk driver had caused a car crash in a major intersection and I think it
was the car that he hit had suspected drugs in it. So Kilo and I got called out
sniff that car. We were on the scene within a few minutes, and I enjoyed the
experience of seeing a bunch of cops and firefighters all stop what they were
doing to watch Kilo and I. With the blue and red lights from several police
cars and fire trucks flashing and strobing the scene, and a lot of drivers going
by also watching, we went to work. Kilo quickly alerted on the car, and to be
sure I ran him over it a couple more times from different directions. Every
time was an alert at the same drivers side door seam, which was enough to
have a tow truck impound the car, and we later applied for a search warrant.
Anyway, I just liked that event where I showed up and everybody stepped
back and stopped everything to watch us.

Another call out I remember was when a PPD sergeant had stopped a car and found the driver had a fanny pack stuffed full of
cash. $7,000 dollars. Sergeant Halsted wanted a drug dog to render an opinion if the cash was drug related, so he called for me.
Because it was just a traffic stop, time was tight and I had to get there fast which was a problem, as I explained to him, because
it was day off and my patrol vehicle was at the repair shop getting some sort of mechanical problem worked on. “I’ll send Dave
to come get you!” yelled the sergeant, hanging up. I quickly got threw on my uniform and got Kilo in his harness…grabbed his
leash and his reward toy, and a couple minutes later I heard a police car siren off in the distance. Getting closer. Oh my god, I
hope that’s not for me..I thought. Siren got louder, I look outside and a police car with lights full on came ripping into my
driveway. I ran outside with Kilo and officer Dave yelled “Get in!” with a look of mild panic on his face so we jumped in his car.
I said “Where are we going?!?” and he looked at me suddenly very confused and said “I thought you knew?” I looked back and
said “John is out on a traffic stop somewhere but he didn’t say where exactly.” Dave looked at me and said “Shit he didn’t tell
me either, he just said to come get you ASAP because you don’t have a
car and I thought Kilo was hurt and we needed to go to the vet clinic!”
Which explained the lights and sirens response. Laughing I explained it
was apparently just a traffic stop we needed to go to, not the vets’. So we
went and found Sgt. Halsted, and we both told him that next time he
should clarify what’s going on and not give people the impression that
there is a medical emergency going on. Although that turned out to be a
kind of funny event, I realized that the whole “HEY NICK DROP
EVERYTHING GET YOUR DOG AND COME OUT HERE
IMMEDIATELY!” thing was actually a bit stressful, not just during the
event but afterward…knowing that it could happen again at any time. A
younger, more excitable officer might really love events like that but at
my age, being on call 24/7 was not really on my list of things that I looked
forward to.

I got a lot of toys for Kilo, including some balls. Kilo had a capability to focus, and I mean really, really focus, on his toys. He
liked chasing balls, so any ball being held would become the absolute center of his universe and he would focus on it like a laser
for a very long time.