MOSES LAKE — After four years on the force, K-9 Chicka of the Grant County Sheriff’s Office has retired to a life of sunbathing and tennis balls, her first handler and now-owner Sergeant Ric Char said in an interview.

It’s the end of a storied career for the 8-year-old Belgian Malinois.

After more than two decades without a K-9 program, and several potential dogs returned to the kennel due to behavioral issues, Chicka was only the second K-9 taken on by the sheriff’s office in recent years, joining the force in 2016 with her handler, then-Deputy Char. Just a month earlier, K-9 Grizzly had hit the streets with Deputy David De La Rosa.

On the back of the success of those first two K-9s, which had been paid for by the public through fundraisers and donations, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office obtained two more K-9s, Chewie and Edo, again with public support. The Moses Lake Police Department also started a K-9 program with K-9 Chief in 2018 after seeing the value of the sheriff’s office’s program, police Chief Kevin Fuhr said in an interview.

For Char, having researched the impact that a K-9 partner could have, being selected to be one of the first two K-9s handlers for the county was an honor, he said.

“It’s something that I always wanted to do in law enforcement, and I was one of the lucky ones to get chosen, along with Deputy De La Rosa,” Char said. “I hadn’t worked with K-9s before, in fact I never even had a dog growing up, but it was something that I really wanted to do.”

While most deputies in rural Grant County may be 20 or 30 minutes away from their nearest backup unit, Char had a partner in K-9 Chicka.

Chicka was, in many ways, an unorthodox police K-9. Not only was she one of the few female patrol dogs around, but she was also around four years old when she started chasing suspects, where most police K-9s join the force before they’re two years old, Char said. Though she could be temperamental at home, resisting going back into her personal kennel when she’d rather roll in the grass while sunbathing, she was effective on the force, he added.

“She had a lot of quirks, but she was awesome in the fact that she just wants to please, make you proud and make you happy,” Char said. “She was driven.”

She didn’t take long to make her mark, Char recalled. Around five or six months in, she and Char were out in George trying to locate a suspect who had fled from Fish and Wildlife personnel, driving recklessly down the highway before ditching his quad in a field. Deputies scoured the area, patrolling the perimeter to make sure the suspect couldn’t escape, but he was nowhere to be found.

But an hour in, deputies working the perimeter had begun to clear the scene. Everyone began to give up on the newly minted K-9 and her handler to locate the suspect, Char recalled — everyone but Deputy Tyson Voss, who himself would later become the handler of K-9 Edo.

Finally, after most of the deputies had left, Chicka located the suspect hiding in the field — her first capture. It was a lesson that Char didn’t soon forget.

“You’re an hour and a half in, your adrenaline is on the way down, and at the same time, you have trust in your dog that she has some kind of scent that she’s on,” Char said. “The biggest lesson I learned was, just trust my dog. She can find bad guys.”

“I think I’ve carried that for the rest of the four years,” he added. “When everyone thinks this guy is gone, if I thought she’s onto something then I’d continue no matter what.”

After nearly four years with Chicka, Char was promoted to Sergeant, and Chicka was transferred to her new handler, Deputy Luis Jimenez. The pair began training together in February and hit the streets in April, according to the sheriff’s office.

But Chicka’s days on the force were numbered. She’s now eight years old, a typical retirement age for a four-legged officer, whose careers can be hard on their bodies. Spokane resident Mitch Ackerman made an offer to donate a new K-9, Zedd, whose name is short for Zadak, to replace her.

And after over $20,000 of medical work and four years of rough work, it was time for Chicka to retire, Char said.

“We put these dogs through an unbelievable amount of stress and it takes a toll on their body and it takes a toll on their teeth,” Char said.

“She’s dealing with a thyroid issue, so she’s going to have to be on medication for the rest of her life, and that affects her energy levels and her weight,” he added. “Coupled with her age, plus the opportunity to pick up K-9 Zedd, who is going to be an amazing K-9 for our office, everything made sense.”

It’s the end of a long career. In the last four years, Chicka’s been directly responsible for 35 arrests, including 10 “apprehensions,” in which she bit the suspect, over the course of approximately 90 deployments.

Now, she’s starting a new, quieter chapter of her life. She’s joining the Char household along with his two small dogs, Abby and Moose, though she has her own insulated dog house and outdoor kennel, which was donated by the sheriff’s office, Char said.

And, now that she’s not going to be chasing suspects, she can spend more of her time doing what she loves the most — chasing balls.