TOPEKA (KSNT) – Deputies with the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office are celebrating the career of K-9 officer Zeus as he enters retirement.
After over 10 years of serving the community, Zeus is finally able to enjoy a vacation.
Zeus is a 12-year-old Belgian Malinois from the Czech Republic. He is certified in explosives detection, tracking, apprehension, patrolling along with area and article searches and more.
Deputies said he is known for his laid-back attitude and work ethic. His partner, Deputy Cody McKnight, told 27 News he works for serious events, but he enjoys the work.
“He’s helped with everything we’ve done,” McKnight said. “KU, K-State basketball and football games. We’ve done the Secretary of State has come to Topeka. We’ve done a presentation or sniffs for him and his crew. The most recent thing is we had a naturalization ceremony at Brown v. Board a couple of days ago, and we sniffed the Brown v. Board building for the Homeland Security. So, he gets to go out and do a lot of fun things.”
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“The great thing about Zeus is he could transition from being in patrol mode, going out and finding the bad guy, to being in a kindergarten class in two minutes,” said Sergeant Brad Metz, with the Sheriff’s Office K9 unit. “And in that transition that he was able to pull off, just made him kind of a local star with the little kids and anybody who we did demos with and things like that.”
Zeus will be spending his retirement at home with his partner McKnight. His last day on the job is Oct. 11.
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