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Good boy, Swamper

Sheriff's Office K-9 eyeing retirement

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Webster County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Tony Walter has been the handler for K-9 Swamper since Swamper joined the department in 2015. Now aging into his twilight years, Swamper is ready for retirement, and Walter plans to pass the torch of the department's K-9 handler to Deputy Tyler Holbrook.

After nearly eight years on patrol, one member of the Webster County Sheriff’s Office is ready to put his paws up and enjoy the good life — and probably a fair number of belly rubs.

Swamper, a 12-year-old Belgian Malinois, has been the K-9 officer for the Sheriff’s Office since January 2015. His two-legged partner is Sgt. Tony Walter.

“He’s been a huge asset for us, as far as narcotic seizures, tracking suspects, apprehension and protection,” Walter said.

In August 2020, Swamper played a pivotal role in tracking and apprehending a homicide suspect who was hiding on a property near the junction of U.S. Highway 20 and Webster County Road P59. During his eight-year career, Swamper has contributed to countless seizures of illegal narcotics, including one drug bust where five pounds of crystal methamphetamine were collected, Walter said.

In addition to sniffing out drugs and the bad guys, Swamper and Walter regularly train and receive annual certifications from the United States Police K-9 Association.

Walter has been the Sheriff’s Office K-9 handler since 2007 — first with a German shepherd named Cayd, then with Swamper in 2015. He said Swamper, compared with Cayd, was more stubborn and took more work to become a cohesive K-9/handler team.

“With as stubborn as he was, it’s just kind of natural to the breed, there was a longer adjustment period of him getting used to me and me getting used to him,” Walter said. “But once we got past that, we turned into a pretty good team.”

After nearly a decade of service to Webster County, Swamper’s aging body just can’t keep up with the daily demands of the job.

“He’s to the point where he deserves to retire,” Walter said. “He deserves to just relax for the rest of his life and enjoy being a family pet and enjoy the easy life.”

Swamper will spend his twilight years as just a family dog with Walter’s family.

“Although he’s not allowed to be on the couch, he’ll spend most of his time laying on the couch with the kids,” Walter said.

There’s no exact date planned for Swamper’s retirement, but upon his retirement, Walter will also be hanging up the leash and passing the torch of the department’s K-9 handler to Deputy Tyler Holbrook. Walter will remain on patrol with the Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s just been a long-standing goal of mine since before I was even on patrol,” Holbrook said.

Holbrook joined the Webster County Sheriff’s Office in March 2020 after previously being a corrections officer at the Webster County Jail and a reserve police officer in Dayton from 2017 to 2019.

Since joining the Sheriff’s Office, Holbrook has spent time learning from Walter and Fort Dodge Police Department K-9 handler Sgt. Paul Samuelson.

“I’m just surrounding myself with as much experience as I can get prior to getting the dog,” Holbrook said.

“You can just see the passion that he has for having a K-9,” Walter added.

Purchasing and training a police dog is not cheap. According to Chief Deputy Derek Christie, the initial investment in a new K-9 officer will be in the neighborhood of $20,000 — and that doesn’t include the continual upkeep costs like food, veterinary care and continual training.

Holbrook is hoping to ease the county taxpayers of that burden, so the department is launching a fundraiser for the K-9 program. The Webster County Sheriff’s Office has a K-9 fund with the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and welcomes any donations.

Holbrook said they’re hoping to have a dog ready to join patrol in the spring.

Donations can be mailed to or dropped off at the Sheriff’s Office in the Webster County Law Enforcement Center, 702 First Ave. S. Checks can be made payable to the “Fort Dodge Community Foundation/WCSO Canine Fund.” Donations can also be dropped off with any of the sheriff’s deputies.

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