K-9 Officer, Dolfo, was euthanized yesterday after being diagnosed with terminal cancer last Sunday. Dolfo was Officer Wayne Holben’s partner for the West Reading Police Department.
The two of them were inseparable since 2003. Officer Holben stated the following: “He’s part of my family when he’s at home. When it’s time to go to work, he’s ready.”
So true. I have talked with a number of the Reading’s K-9 Unit and they tell me the same thing. Officer Tina Fallstich told me her K-9 partner, Max, is all business when it is time to be a police officer. When Tina and Max arrived at the BCTV studios the other month for my show, I walked directly past Tina’s police cruiser with Max in the back seat. Let’s just say Max didn’t take to me so well. He was doing his job. And a good one I might add!
When we were in the studio, it was a totally different story plus one would have to be blind not to see the bond Tina and Max have. Same thing can be said for Officer Hector Santiago and his K-9 partner, Caine. Caine and Max were off duty in the studio. If you didn’t catch it during the show, I was laughing. Why? Because Caine was excited and wanted to play and in the process he kept pushing my table while I was trying to ask serious questions.
K-9 dogs are police officers but they are also interwoven into a partner’s life at home and they become just as important in that role.
My sympathies go out to Officer Wayne Holben on the loss of his partner and his beloved friend.