Lake County Sheriff’s Office welcomes new K-9
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Lake County Sheriff’s Office has a new K-9.
Rex, a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois, has been assigned to Deputy Joe Lyons, said Lt. Rich Ward.
Ward said Lyons and Rex just completed a six-week-long, 240-hour basic handler course at Adlerhorst International in Jurupa Valley.
Lyons and Rex will be assigned to the Enforcement Division and provide a variety of services to the community, Ward said.
Rex is trained for handler protection, tracking, searching and suspect apprehension, and Ward said Rex and Lyons can provide school and public demonstrations.
Despite the serious nature of his work, Rex is “a sweetheart,” said Ward.
Ward told Lake County News that Rex is now the second K-9 on duty with the sheriff’s office. The other K-9 is a black Labrador retriever named Raider who is used for narcotics detection.
“We just retired one of our narcotics trained yellow labs at the age of 10, but hope to get another protection trained canine as soon as staffing will permit,” hopefully in the early spring of 2022, Ward said.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit is funded through a variety of revenue sources which Ward said include asset forfeiture, fundraising events, and donations from citizens and community stakeholders.
Anyone interested in donating to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Program can do so by contacting the Lake County Deputy Sheriff’s Association K-9 Fund.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.