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K-9 Officer Mako celebrates one year on the force

Mako has spent half his life as an officer of the law. The Belgian Malinois has been with the Toledo Police Department for a year.

TOLEDO, Ohio — A four-legged member of the Toledo Police Department is celebrating one year on the force.

K-9 Officer Mako joined the Toledo Police Department on Dec. 9, 2019. Mako took over for his big brother, JJ, who retired after six years of service. 

RELATED: TPD welcomes new K9 officer, Mako

Even though he's only been part of the department for a year, he's already been critical in some big busts at the young age of two.

"Mako's unique, he's very athletic," said Mako's partner, Officer Brett Kohlman. "He's a very athletic dog, he's just very headstrong. He's going to do anything I ask him to do."

Credit: WTOL


"He's my partner. He rides around with me all night. We do a various amount of tasks in the city wherever we're called. Sometimes with other jurisdictions too," said Kohlman. "And then when we're done, 4:30 in the morning, he goes home and he's just a dog."

Working with a K-9 isn't always easy and takes a lot of training, but Kohlman has nothing but praise for his partner.

"We started in August of last year, I started training him up at home myself. And then we went to K-9 school for six weeks, graduated in December, the first week of December, and then we hit the streets out here," said Kohlman. "It's a challenge, you've always gotta be training him, always gotta be working with him. But then it's fun. He's a fun dog and he's a happy dog. He loves people. So I'm looking forward to helping out the city and keeping it a little safer with him."

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