Military working dogs retire

  • Published
  • By Tyler Grimes
  • 60th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  A retirement ceremony was held for two military working dogs Friday at the Military Working Dog Kennel here.

While the ceremony was unofficial, it was important for the Airmen at the kennel to recognize the accomplishments of military working dogs Gabriel and Lasso, said Tech. Sgt. Christopher Smith, 60th Security Forces Squadron kennel master.

Gabriel, a 14-year-old Belgian malinois, has served at Travis for 12 years as a patrol explosive detection dog and Lasso, a 12-year old German shepherd, served for nine years as a patrol narcotics detection dog, Smith said.

While serving in the Air Force, the dogs have accomplished a long list of achievements.
Lasso was involved in more than 100 MWD demonstrations and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, respectively.

"Throughout his career, he had 24 confirmed finds resulting in the confiscation of over 10 pounds of marijuana, eight grams of cocaine and five grams of methamphetamine," Smith said.

Gabriel was deployed nine times in seven different countries in support of OEF, OIF and Operation New Dawn, respectively. During his tenure, Gabriel was able to detect nine different types of explosive odors and achieved a 98 percent success rate for detecting explosives, Smith said.

In addition to Gabriel's detection abilities, he served as guard to keep Airmen safe. Beyond protecting Airmen, he served with the U.S. Secret Service to protect the president 12 times throughout the nation.

"Gabe tallied over 2,500 random anti-terrorism measures, over 4,000 foot-patrols and conducted nearly 18,000 hours of explosive detection while searching in excess of 300,000 vehicles in his career," Smith said.

With such long and distinguished careers, the retirement ceremony is well-deserved for these two dogs, Smith said.

"Obviously, being 14 and 12, they're both really seasoned older dogs that are lucky to live as long as they have and we're lucky to be able to offer them a retirement ceremony," Smith said.

Now that Lasso and Gabriel are in retirement, they will be adopted by their respective handlers and enjoy the rest of their lives.