Memorial service held for Deputy Dingo
COSHOCTON – The community said good-bye to retired K-9 deputy Dingo during a memorial service held at Given-Dawson-Paisley Funeral Home on Thursday, Nov. 30.
Deputy Dingo started at the Coshocton County Sheriff’s Office in January of 2008 after completing a 15-week training at Canton Police Department with his handler, Deputy Dave Stone, and was state certified. Dingo retired from the sheriff’s office in 2015, having many drug busts and suspect apprehensions in the county and across the state of Ohio under his belt, not to mention helping to locate missing children and lost hunters, and breaking up many bar fights with just a menacing bark that could be heard for miles.
When Dingo was off the clock, he enjoyed visiting many community events and especially loved meeting children and receiving lots of pats on the head. In return, the community seems to have fallen in love with Dingo and has shown their support during Dingo’s passing.
“The support from the community has been absolutely amazing,” said Stone. “During the final ride, it was a downpour and people lined the streets everywhere we went, and that just shows the community loves the K-9 program and supports the sheriff’s office and everything we do.”
The K-9 program was re-introduced to the Coshocton County Sheriff’s Office through the generosity of Charlie Bechtol and family and the Coshocton Foundation in 2007. Dingo was the first K-9 to join the sheriff’s office after the K-9 unit was reinstated.
Stone remembers the first time he met Dingo and also remembers his first assistance at a traffic stop.
“We were at state certification and just coming back into the county and I saw a routine traffic stop,” said Stone. “I stopped and asked the officer if he needed help and he said, ‘no I think I’m okay’. I decided to let Dingo out to train him a little bit more and he walked around the car, stopped and sat down. The officer asked me what that meant and I said that means the car either has drugs in it or has had drugs in it in the past. Dingo found 200 grams of marijuana in the car that day. So he started his job as soon as his training was over.”
It was after Dingo’s first apprehension that he gained the reputation that, although he was friendly at social events, he could take down a suspect without any trouble at all. During his career, Dingo had 13 physical apprehensions and numerous apprehensions without biting.
Dingo was known for only having three toes on one of his paws. As he was apprehending a suspect, Dingo scaled a chain-link fence only to have one of his toes torn off in the process, but that didn’t stop Dingo, who continued to chase the suspect until he was caught.
“You don’t know the support you have until something like this happens,” said Stone. “Dingo had a wonderful life. He had a good retirement getting to be our guard dog at the house.”
Dingo had congestive heart failure and had been ill for about a month. The night Dingo passed, his breathing was rapid and staggered to the point where he would go a few moments without breathing at all. Stone contacted A-1 Vet Care and loaded Dingo in the cruiser. Thinking that Dingo would pass away before they arrived at the veterinarian’s office, Stone was surprised when he opened the back of the cruiser to find Dingo standing up, panting, and ready to go to work.
Stone let Dingo have his final “bite” with the leather sleeve the deputies used to train him and then the Stone family made the hard decision to let Dingo go peacefully.
“The sudden passing of Deputy Dingo left not only a void in the life of Deputy Stone and his family, but also in the lives of his friends and associates at the sheriff’s office,” said Sheriff Tim Rogers. “The community outpouring in the way of cards and monetary gifts certainly shows the passion they felt for Dingo. It’s been a true blessing.”
A few officers spoke about the affect Dingo had on their lives. One was Deputy Steve Mox, who is partnered with the office’s K-9 Chili.
“Every demonstration we went through, everyone knew Dingo,” said Mox. “Officer Stone would do anything for Dingo and Dingo would do anything for Officer Stone. Even at the very end, Dingo would do anything to protect Stone. Even though he has passed away, Dingo will always be a part of this K-9 unit.”
Deputy Troy Bricker closed the service by reading a poem and with prayer.
Jessica Paisley of Given-Dawson-Paisley Funeral Home reached out to the sheriff’s office about having a memorial service for Dingo.
“I heard about Dingo’s passing a week ago last Friday (Nov. 17) and I wanted to send my condolences to let Dave know he and his family were all in our thoughts and prayers,” said Paisley. “I also wanted to offer any help I could give and the sheriff called me back and said yes, we would like to have some help. We didn’t know what to expect, but we knew that we needed to do something for Dingo and we needed to honor him.”
She said she wanted to make sure that Dingo was honored in a positive way.
“There is so much negative press with police officers that’s going on right now and today was just the opposite,” said Paisley. “I hope this proves to Dave, the sheriff, and other officers that people still care.”
Dingo’s body was sent to Whispering Oaks Crematorium in Zanesville where it was cremated and returned to Stone in a box that bears Dingo’s name and K-9 star. Stone will keep Dingo’s remains at home where he was so loved.
Kiefer’s Florist donated the flowers for the memorial service, Annin Flags donated the flag used to wrap Dingo’s body during his final ride last week, and Buehler’s Foods donated food for a social gathering after the service. Jim McKeever also donated his time as photographer.
“I can’t say enough about Dave and Chris Andrews and the sheriff,” said Paisley. “They’re so great. There are still good people and police officers out there and Coshocton County has the best.”
Henata and Chili, the current K-9s on the K-9 unit, have the same social and aggressive skills needed to positively promote the sheriff’s office that Deputy Dingo had. However, there’s no doubt that they’ll have some pretty big paws to fill.
*Photos by Josie Sellers
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