SEQUIM — For the last seven-plus years, Mamba the Sequim Police dog has been taking a bite out of crime.

Now at about 10 years old (in human years), the German shepherd is officially a civilian and retired from service.

Mamba and her handler, officer Paul Dailidenas, were honored with a Distinguished Service Medal and certificate by Sequim Police Chief Mike Hill on March 10 at the Sequim City Council meeting.

Hill, who was the department’s K-9 officer from 2005-2016, said their dogs’ contributions often are overlooked despite spending most of their lives going into danger to protect officers and citizens.

“Mamba has been part of the police department for nearly eight years, and she along with the other canines are often deployed out front of officers to make it safer for us to do some of our most dangerous work,” he said.

“Sequim canine teams have literally tracked murderers, persons armed with firearms, domestic violence suspects, persons who committed felony assaults, robbery, burglary suspects, wanted felons, and a host of other things.”

Dailidenas said in an interview one of the many cases that stand out involved the theft of a motor vehicle with a firearm involved.

“The driver had fired it a couple of times while driving down a road, dumped the car down by Carrie Blake Park, and then started running through the field there,” he said.

“So we just went up on the other side, and between Mamba and I, we got him.

“Mamba got a bite out of him, and I took him in custody, with no injuries, and we recovered his stolen firearm as well.”

A cop and his dog

Hill joked that Mamba will spend retirement on the couch now.

Dailidenas, who remains on patrol, said his family has always loved pets, and they will keep Mamba at their home.

“I couldn’t see giving her up,” he said.

Officer Taran Johnson has been given Dailidenas’ blessing to continue the K-9 program, and is already training with a new dog toward their required 400 training hours, Hill said.

Dailidenas, who joined the department around the same time the K-9 program started, said he helped Sgt. Dave Campbell and Hill through the years and enjoyed being a part of it.

He said with Johnson, “it was a good opportunity to pass it along.”

“In a smaller department, if you have one or two dogs, you could be looking at 20 years before another handler can take control of it,” Dailidenas said.

Holding many positions through the years, including different detective positions and currently as field training officer, Dailidenas said he “likes giving other people opportunities.”

K-9 program

This is the 25th year for Sequim’s K-9 Officer program, which started in 2000 with Campbell and Huey the dog. Hill took over in 2005 and worked for three years with Titus. From 2008 to September 2016, Hill partnered with Chase.

Mamba, the department’s first female dog, trained and started her duties with Officer Tony Bush in mid-2017, and Dailidenas took on the position in 2018.

He and Mamba completed more than 400 hours of state-mandated training and passed the Washington State Police Canine Association’s accreditation prior to beginning service duties. They’ve been recognized twice as a Master Handler K-9 team by the Washington State Police Canine Association.

She’s also trained in tracking and apprehension, building searches, evidence searches and handler protection.

Through the last seven-plus years, Dailidenas said he’s learned to be more patient by being a handler.

“It’s hard work, so being able to do the amount of training it takes and still do all the day-to-day patrol work was a little struggle to go back and forth,” he said.

Along with patrol duties, Mamba and Dailidenas conducted demonstrations and attended community events. Dailidenas said Mamba was popular with the public.

“Even though she’s trained to locate, apprehend or bite, she can turn it on, so she knows what she needs to do,” he said.

Support

For 25 years, the public has paid for all aspects of each Sequim Police dog, including training and food.

The purchase and training for Mamba was funded by a grant through the Mary P. Dolciani Halloran Foundation in James J. Halloran’s name.

Johnson’s training also is being supported through the foundation, Hill said.

To support the canine police program, send donations by check to “Sequim Police Department K-9 Program” in care of the Sequim Police Department at 152 W. Cedar St., Sequim, WA 98382.

Credit card donations are accepted at the Sequim Civic Center, at the same address.

For more information, call 360-683-7227.

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. He can be reached by email at matthew.nash@sequimgazette.com.