Watching Whatcom County Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Taddonio and his partner K-9 Elliot together, I’m immediately struck by one thing: In this situation — the duo is on the clock but not in pursuit of anyone or anything — it’s very much like a boy and his dog. They’re just playing.
“Atta boy! Good boy!” Taddonio calls out, as Elliot retrieves a tug toy thrown deep into a nearly pitch-dark Barkley Village field. He returns, tail wagging, to where we stand under a streetlight, and drops the toy. He then goes back into the field, to sniff around. “He’s a dog and he’s going to do dog stuff.”
Taddonio whistles to Elliot and lets out a playful: “Yeah, yeah!” Elliot bounds back to us, looking for another toy.
It’s a popular misconception that police dogs are vicious and aggressive. In fact, everything Elliot does with Taddonio is play — even when he’s tracking a suspect or uncovering narcotics.
“Everything we teach them is a game. The satisfaction for him isn’t in biting somebody — we’ve taught him that the body is a toy, so that’s okay,” Taddonio explains. “But when we say the game’s over, it’s over.”
Elliot, a 75-pound, four-and-a-half-year-old German Shepherd, came to Taddonio from Germany two years ago. Most of Whatcom County’s police dogs are imported.
Taddonio was off his regular beat for three months while he and Elliot trained for 400 hours in general patrol and an additional 200 in narcotics. They still spend one day a week strengthening Elliot’s skills.
“We’re almost two years on the road together now,” Taddonio says. “And you do get attached. He’s like one of my kids now, for sure.”
But Taddonio must always be the alpha dog. “We teach them that they’re outstanding,” he says. “They’re the best, the baddest, and not to be afraid of anybody. But I’m the boss and you have to listen to me.”
And when Taddonio clocks out, Elliot is still there.
“Even on my days off, I play with him for a couple hours. He needs that,” Taddonio says. “I grew up with dogs and the temperament of a working dog versus a housedog is night and day.”
Elliot never barks in the car or at Taddonio’s home. “But he whines,” Taddonio says, grinning and shaking his head. “Here’s my tough police dog; he’s crying because he wants out to play.”
Taddonio counts himself lucky to have been teamed up with Elliot. “When I got him he was two-and-a-half, which is a bit older than usual, and he had been doing Schutzhund, a German show sport. A lot of police dogs start out that way.”
Some of the necessary training was already in place and Elliot clearly had the disposition to be an effective police dog.
But he’s also still a puppy at heart, in some ways.
“Elliot is just kind of a goober. He loves to heel, and then he’ll start jumping up, like: ‘Where’s my toy? Where’s my toy?’ He’s kind of nerdy.”
Goober or not, when it’s time to track a suspect, Elliot does what’s expected of him every time.
“Patrol entails finding lost property, tracking people, searching buildings and areas for people or articles,” Taddonio explains. “Elliot has different commands.” He also searches for narcotics.
“His ability to scent discriminate is phenomenal,” says Taddonio.
In an ideal tracking situation, Elliot is brought to an area in which the suspect was the last person to move through. “So he’s told to find the freshest scent,” Taddonio says. “Once he gets on that, that’s the only scent he follows. It’s amazing to watch.”
A recent track occurred off of Hannegan Road, after a man broke into a business, and then fled behind the building, up a steep hill.
“Elliot goes up the hill and finds the guy’s backpack stashed in the bushes,” says Taddonio. “Without Elliot, we’re not going to find that by just looking. He pushes past it and smells the guy, 150 yards to the north of us.”
The officers, led by Elliot, find the man hidden in trees and bushes, tucked behind a generator box. He comes out without incident once he realizes Elliot is there.
“The guy is his reward; that’s his toy,” Taddonio explains. “And the officer with me has the guy now, so Elliot recognizes this game is over. Now he turns to me, because he knows I always have a toy on me.”
All of Whatcom County’s six police dogs — both in the County and in the Bellingham Police Department — have Kevlar vests, thanks to continued support from local companies like Sanitary Service Company.
In fact, generous donations are the reason Elliot is with Taddonio now. “The Chelsey Ebert Foundation donated the money to buy Elliot,” says Taddonio. “That was awesome, and I appreciate it.”
Taddonio says it’s humbling to be an officer with the K-9 Unit.
“It’s such a learning curve. I felt I was pretty good as a cop for my first 10 years, but this is something different. You can’t have an ego. There’s no machismo to it, because you’re constantly humbled — by a dog.”
Taddonio gives Elliot the German command for “heel” as he again tosses his toy into the dark field. “Fuss…fuss…” Elliot sits incredibly still, belly down on the pavement, watching Taddonio closely. His body is taut, itching to go after his beloved toy.
He receives the okay, and Elliot instantaneously jumps while letting out a small yelp.
We both laugh as we watch Elliot disappear from the street lamplight into the dark, and then bring the toy back.
“Pust, pust,” says Taddonio, giving the Czech command for “let go.” Elliot drops the toy at his feet. “Good boy! Wanna show her your high kicks?”
Taddonio and Elliot practically dance across the parking lot, the dog jumping high on two legs next to his human partner.
“I just love watching that,” says Taddonio when they stop, “because he’s so happy doing it. You can see the joy it creates in him.”
The longevity of any police dog’s career depends on its health. Whatcom County has been lucky, with recent dogs working up to age 10. “That’s huge,” Taddonio says. “Eight is kind of the average.”
And after Elliot hangs up his Kevlar vest for the last time and retires?
“Elliot becomes mine,” Taddonio says, smiling. “He’s not going anywhere.”
