[Video] Rocky The Police Dog is Retiring In August

One of Rocky Hill's finest is stepping down to spend more time playing fetch with his family.

The had an K-9 unit until 1986 when it was disbanded because of budget restrictions. In 2003, the program was restarted with Officer Erik Gutsfeld and a Dutch Shepard named Rocky.

"I put in for it and knew it was going to be a big commitment," said Gutsfeld, who added he felt pressure to do a good job with the K-9 unit.

According to Gutsfeld, the "hardest part" of the job is training the officer to work with the police dog. Rocky and Gutsfeld spent four months training with a private contractor after the dog arrived. However, the training never stops and he said the partners train for 16 hours each month.

"When I am at work, he is work. When I am home, he is at home," he said. "I spend more time with the dog than my family."

Though he was expecting a German Shepherd, Gutsfeld is happy that he got a Dutch Shepherd, even though he had never seen one before he met Rocky. He compared a Dutch Shepherd to a "machine gun" and a German Shepherd to a "pistol."

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"You go from one end of the spectrum to the other," Gutsfeld said. "It is insane."

Gutsfeld said his partner for the past eight years "is very intimating" and "hard working." Rocky is known for his ability to track, conduct area searches and detect narcotics. He can also find keys in the field.

"He is a tool, but he is not just a tool on my belt," he said. "You have the dog to do the work that you do not want a human to do."

During the first week on the job, Rocky found four pounds of marijuana at a motor vehicle stop. In the first month, Rocky assisted with a search for a suspect and once, the man knew that there was a dog looking for him, he gave up. 

"It is amazing the impact that a dog has on a track," Gutsfeld said. "Ninety percent of the time a dog can clear a building quicker than cops."

Gutsfeld does not have any scientific data, but he knows just having the dog in the car deters people and gives him an "extra set of eyes."

"The dog barking changes someone’s thought process," he said.

Like any other partner, Rocky has his quirks, Gutsfeld said. The animal enjoys tennis balls and will sometimes have two in his mouth at a time.

"He will sleep with tennis balls," he said. Gutsfeld added that Rocky does not like police cars or taxi cabs, which look similar to cruisers, and will bark at them.

Rocky has cost taxpayers very little money and helped protect them for eight years, Gutsfeld said. A local pet store supplied Rocky with all his food, the donated medical services and the dog itself was purchased through a grant. Local businesses also donated the money that was used to outfit the specialized police cruiser.

In August, Rocky will retire from the police department because the dog has a condition that causes labored breathing and Gutsfeld said he does not want it to get worse. The retirement will allow Rocky to spend more time "just being a dog," he added. 

"He is a pet at home and he is all business when he is at the police department," he said.

Gutsfeld's six-year son Benjamin will assume some of the duties for taking care of Rocky, but the four-legged friend can now watch over his family.

"It is bittersweet," he said. "It is going to be tough. I talked with my family and they were involved in process. All I wanted to do was be a police officer and work with a dog." 

The future is bright for the Rocky Hill Police Department as a new dog will be coming into Connecticut on July 2.

On Aug. 6, Gutsfeld will start six to eight weeks of training with his new partner a German Shepherd, who will be between 18 months to 2.5 years old, from Germany or Czechoslovakia. The dog will be fully trained by the time he comes to the United States, however he will have to learn how to perform police activities and to work with Gutsfeld.

"It will be a whole new learning process for me," he said. "The new dog has big paws to fill."

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