SPOKANE, Wash. — A beloved member of the Spokane Police Department’s K-9 Unit has passed away.
A post on the unit’s Facebook page says K-9 Leonidas, called Leo for short, died at home on Tuesday from what appears to have been a heart attack as he was making his rounds.
Leo’s former handler, Officer Craig Hamilton, wrote a heartfelt message about K-9 Leo on Facebook, saying that he was his “one” partner in nearly 16 years as a handler.
“We just clicked and he quickly learned the game and was one of the best in his 9 years on the streets,” Hamilton wrote.
Hamilton said Leo was always energetic, even doing backflips off the fence when he would grab him for work. He added that he had the perfect mix of a drive to work and a social personality.
“He didn’t have a mean bone in his body. If he could have, he would have been smiling and giving knuckles to the bad guys he captured. To him it was all a game, he wasn’t defensive in the slightest,” Hamilton wrote.
Hamilton said Leo was so well-loved that he was requested specifically at times to join the Washington State Marijuana Eradication Team and even flew under the ERAD helicopter numerous times.
“He was always there for me, even if it was simply to use him as a pillow while on deep woods stake-outs. He and I once crossed a suspension bridge that spanned a fast flowing river that I wasn’t super keen on crossing, especially with a K9 in hand. I didn’t know how it was going to go with Leo, since the footing was probably 12” wide and only the spanning cables for me to hold. However, it didn’t faze him a bit, just another day for him,” Hamilton wrote.
K-9 Leo even made an impact on the lives of those he captured, Hamilton said. One man that he captured several times leaned out his car window while stopped at a red light and asked if it was Leonidas in the car. He even talked about naming his first-born child after the dog.
Their paths seemed to mirror each other, Hamilton said, as K-9 Leo passed away a couple of weeks after his handler’s last day in the Spokane Police K-9 Unit.
“I could go on and on and on about all the good times that we had together. I will say that we were lucky enough to enjoy our peak years in K9 together,” he wrote.
Read Hamilton’s statement In its entirety below:
I write this with a heavy heart, but I thought some might like to know. Yesterday, my best partner, K9 Leonidas (Leo), died at home. It appeared as though he might have had a heart attack as he was making his rounds.
I will say that Leo was my “one” partner in my nearly 16 years as a handler. We just clicked and he quickly learned the game and was one of the best in his 9 years on the streets. He was my second working dog out of the three I worked. If you speak to handlers that have had more than one dog, most will agree that you only have one that is “the dog” for you, Leo was mine.
He came up to Spokane and started his career at about 18 months old, back in 2008. I only had 4.5 years in K9 so I was still figuring things out myself. Leo was very energetic and in training we could never put a decoy up high enough where Leo couldn’t get to them. In his kennel, he would literally do back flips off the fence when I would grab him for work. He was also a dog that had the perfect mix of drive to work, yet social. He didn’t have a mean bone in his body. If he could have, he would have been smiling and giving knuckles to the bad guys he captured. To him it was all a game, he wasn’t defensive in the slightest.
It’s my time to brag on Leo some, because he deserves it. He was so well loved, we would get requested specifically at times to join the Washington State Marijuana Eradication Team just because he knew the game so well, was stealthy and one of the guys when driving all around the state. Once he fell asleep on the back seat of the WSP supervisor's truck, rolled off the seat and never woke up as he slept on his back, feet up and wedged between the front and back seat. Other times he would just enjoy the ride as one of the guys with his head between the driver and passenger, looking out the windshield. He has flown under the ERAD helicopter numerous times, sometimes just him and me dangling 2500’ over the canyon floor and he did it with a dog smile, yet I would be wanting down. He was always there for me, even if it was simply to use him as a pillow while on deep woods stake-outs. He and I once crossed a suspension bridge that spanned a fast flowing river that I wasn’t super keen on crossing, especially with a K9 in hand. I didn’t know how it was going to go with Leo, since the footing was probably 12” wide and only the spanning cables for me to hold. However, it didn’t faze him a bit, just another day for him.
He made an impact on some of the bad guys’ lives, too. Heck one guy Leo captured 2 or 3 different times over the years. One night at work that same guy happened to pull up next to us while we were stopped at a light and he very excitedly yelled at me out the window, asking if that was Leonidas in the car?! He even talked about naming his first born child after Leo (I tried talking him into a tattoo of Leo’s name).
I could go on and on and on about all the good times that we had together. I will say that we were lucky enough to enjoy our peak years in K9 together. Our paths seemed to mirror each other to a point. He died just a couple weeks after my last day in the Spokane Police K9 Unit. My time in K9 has been the best years of my career to date and I can’t imagine anything topping all that I was privileged enough to experience.
Thank you all for the best job ever,
Craig and Leo
