Kane County police say goodbye to its top dog

It was 2 a.m. and a toddler was missing.

His father had passed out walking home from a party with the 2-year-old in Carpentersville. When the father came to, he called 911.

An extensive search was in progress with multiple police departments. Helicopters were called in. Kane County sheriff's deputy Nick Wolf brought his K-9 partner, Nando, to the scene.

Soon, the German shepherd led police to the boy sleeping about 30 feet from busy Route 31. It was hard for searchers to see him because he had fallen asleep in a patch of tall grass.

"Who knows how long before he woke up and wandered onto Route 31?" said Sheriff Pat Perez. "There are so many bad things that could have happened in that situation that didn't."

It was a proud moment for Wolf, who has worked with Nando for six years.

"Locating a 2-year-old is priceless," he said. "That's as good as it gets."

Nando, who is 8 years old, will be retiring next month because of a hip injury.

It's a big loss for the department, which often gets specific requests from other departments for help from the pair, Perez said.

"They do such a good job," Perez said. "Word gets out."

Nando's work includes narcotics detection, tracking, building searches, missing persons, alarm calls and SWAT team duties.

The duo has assisted 43 different agencies and departments in the last six years.

Leaving the department will be hard for Nando, too, who Wolf describes as having a "Type A, alpha male" personality. Bred in Germany and trained specifically for police work, Nando is a bit of a workaholic.

"He wants to work all the time," said Wolf, who rewards Nando for a job well done with balls and tug toys. "Every time we bring him into a new environment, he thinks he's coming in to do a job."

When Wolf gets his uniform on in the morning, Nando goes and sits by the door.

Wolf estimates he and Nando have visited thousands of children at schools, festivals and other events.

"He's not so good with adults, but he's great with kids," Wolf said. "I think they just know when it's business, and when it's kids."

Wolf and Nando have trained other K-9 officers from across the state.

Perez listed some of the pair's most impressive accomplishments at a county board committee meeting last month before honoring them with a special plaque.

In 2004, Nando took down two offenders from one home invasion call in Aurora.

The pair was on the scene as the robbery was still in progress. One man ran out one door, and Nando took him down. While Wolf was handcuffing that man, another ran out a different direction, and Nando caught him as well.

"A lot of handlers go their whole career without an apprehension," Wolf said. "And then we had two in one night."

That catch was an example of a case not likely to be solved without Nando's help, Perez said.

The suspects had a getaway car waiting, and the house that was broken into was a gang house and not likely to have cooperative witnesses, he said.

When doing a building search, officers will first announce that a police dog is coming through before letting a dog go.

"Ninety-nine percent of the time, people surrender during the announcement," instead of taking their chances with the 95-pound Nando, Wolf said.

The Kane County department has three police dogs, a number Perez hopes to increase to six by the end of next year. A bomb-sniffing dog and a narcotics dog are on each shift.

"It's really like having a two-man car," Perez said. "You know they have a partner they can depend on."

Later this month, Wolf will travel to a training camp to get a new dog for the department.

The initial training for a police dog costs between $10,000 and $15,000, but the department's K-9 program is funded entirely by donations, Wolf said.

The training for a police officer and dog takes between one and two months, but the dogs are trained for about two years before they are matched with an officer.

Although Wolf's new dog will be the one going to work with him soon, Nando will still be a part of his family. Wolf jokes his new job will be as a home security system.

He plans to still do some of the less physically tasking training with Nando, like tracking.

But if the new dog is having any problems catching on, Wolf said he's sure "Old Reliable" would jump at the chance to catch one more bad guy.

"When he's ready to work, he's different, animated," Wolf said. "He's all about the task."