K-9 Rex and Officer Reggie Larson have been together more than 8 years. Larson says the award is pretty amazing and he’s still in a bit of shock by it. But, he says, they called in the right dog to track an armed suspect that night.
“I’ve trained a lot of dogs throughout my life. He’s a special dog. He really enjoys looking for people, that’s his forte,” said Larson.
“Rex had apprehended him and had knocked him down and disarmed him long enough for us to find him,” said Larson.
Officers say without Rex, they would have taken gunfire as they entered the back yard.
Sergeant Nate Hatanpa supervises Blaine’s K-9 teams.
“I believe Officer Larson and Rex prevented lives from being lost that night,” said Hatanpa. “I truly believe if it wasn’t for his expertise of being a police K-9 handler of such high caliber, that truly more people would be injured that night. It goes to show how much effort Officer Larson puts in.”
Larson says the case proves the value of a good police dog.
“We talk about these dogs saving cops’ lives all the time and now we have an actual case where that happened,” said Larson. “It worked out, we all went home safe.”
