Nico, the 9-year-old German Shepherd and Leelanau County’s K9 officer, has returned from sick leave after recovering from surgery to remove a benign tumor from his spleen. “They took a five-pound tumor [out],” says his handler, Deputy Greg Hornkohl.

Nico’s prognosis is good, much to Hornkohl’s relief. “You brace for the worst,” he says.

Even so, the removal and recovery cost the dog several weeks of action. “When I got up and put my uniform on, he sat between me and the door,” says Hornkohl of Nico.

Nico is again patrolling alongside Hornkohl, though their remaining time together on the road will be rather brief: Nico will be retiring this fall.

Leelanau County Sheriff Mike Borkovich tells the Leelanau Ticker that Nico and Hornkohl will join him tomorrow morning at the executive board session of the Leelanau County board of commissioners, with a formal request to retire Nico and bring on a new K9 officer. He adds, “We have tremendous support from our Leelanau Country board of commissioners. As with everything we do, we are open with them and in seeking their approval.”

Borkovich says the sheriff’s office already has the funding to continue the K9 program.

“Even before the tumor, we planned to retire Nico this fall,” he explains. “We had an individual from the Leelanau community, who said he and his family would like to pay for our next K9 dog.”

Borkovich says this gift of $15,000 covers a new dog, all of the dog’s training, necessary equipment, and training with the new K9 handler.

“We are so grateful that this individual as well as his family granted the funding so we could carry this program on, without having to burden the taxpayers of Leelanau County,” says Borkovich.

Nico’s purchase was made possible by a grant from the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. Nico was born in Italy, then trained in Poland before coming to Michigan. Hornkohl and Nico have been partners since 2013.

“He was two years old when I got him,” says the deputy. The two trained together in Lansing for six weeks, 8-10 hours a day, in everything from tracking to drug sniffing to evidence recovery. Hornkohl says they were chasing a suspect on the job when the suspect threw a knife into the woods; Nico found it in six minutes.

Though Hornkohl is a patrol officer working the day shift, the two are always on call. They respond to home alarms, work with the narcotics unit and serve as backup whenever needed.

Nico’s service has been 50 percent search and rescue (he has successfully tracked lost children, persons with dementia who have wandered off, and hikers lost in the sand dunes), 25 percent narcotics detection, and 25 percent training.

“We train with K9 officers in Traverse City, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, Antrim County, sometimes Benzie,” says Hornkohl. Even playtime involves training. “We do stuff every day. I’ll send my kids to the woods,” he says, where Nico invariably finds them.

He’s also a hit when the two visit schools or other gatherings. “His demeanor is just right for this,” says Hornkohl.

Keeping Nico safe is always a key consideration. He has his own bulletproof and stab-proof vest. The department also received a vehicle heat sensor device from the Grand Traverse Kennel Club. If Hornkohl leaves Nico in the car and the vehicle gets over a certain temperature, he will be paged, the car windows will automatically roll down and the car alarm will go off.

Borkovich says a new dog will join the Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office team in early September to begin training, though it will be with a different officer.

“Overall, we look at where that particular deputy is in their career and what their particular family dynamic is,” says Borkovich. “And the job is very physically strenuous. You are running right behind the dog in the woods or in the sands dunes on hot days.”

Borkovich’s target goal is to have the new dog trained and ready for operations by early 2021.

As for Nico post-retirement? Says Borkovich, “A tremendous bond between the handler and the dog forms. Nico will still be part of Deputy Hornkohl’s family.”