LAKELAND - After six years of responding to the call of duty, Police Service Dog Lotus is heading into retirement and set to live the relaxing life of a family pet.
Just a few weeks ago, Sgt. Andrew Druhan and Lotus completed their final shift together. Stepping away from his role in Police Dog Services, Druhan is now Operations NCO in charge of the County and Municipality of St. Paul.
Lotus starting working in Eastern Alberta District (EAD) in late 2019, according to information from RCMP.
While exact statistics were not available, "EAD is the busiest district for Police Dog Service requests in the province, responding to 250 to 300 calls for service a year," according to RCMP.
Druhan explains that typically, Police Service Dogs work for about eight years, making Lotus a bit young for retirement. But, with Druhan's role changing, those involved opted to retire Lotus, and allow him to stay with the Druhan family, rather than handing him on to another handler.
When a Police Service Dog retires, the handler is given the option to keep the dog. For Druhan's first Police Service Dog, he chose to retire the dog to his wife's family, due to his own kids being quite young and the family moving to St. Paul.
This time, with his kids now nine years old and 11 years old, Lotus will stay with the Druhan family.
"He's so ingrained and part of the family," says Druhan.
After being born and trained to work, Lotus will have to transition to a different lifestyle. But being a well-loved family pet should not be too difficult.
When asked what Lotus' best quality has been as a PSD, Druhan says that while Lotus was very dedicated to his job, he is also great at knowing when to switch things off. He is a very balanced dog, with a high drive, but is also able to relax, go home and chill.
In his time as a Police Sevice Dog, Lotus has helped capture countless criminals and has charmed everyone at many community events, according to RCMP.
