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Mekky
German Shepherd
Granbury TX Police Dept
4" x 6"
D onated Oil Portrait
Oil on Panel
This was given by the
Officer's wife as a Christmas gift. Her description follows:
My husband's name is Jeremy
Ballew and his "partner's" name is Mekky.
Mekky is 4 years old and they have been together 2 years this last September.
Im sorry but I cant remember where Mekky is from (Finland?? something
crazy like that but dont quote me). He was trained as a puppy in another
country and sent to San Antonio, Texas as one of two dogs to be trained
further to meet the requests of the Granbury Police Department. Mekky
is trained for drug searches of all types and for tracking humans. He
does not use what is called a scent item when tracking (like the persons
shirt or something like that), he has to have a starting place or last
known location of the person he is looking for so that he can pick up
the scent. He is one of few dogs that can keep a scent across different
types of ground (grass, gravel, dirt, concrete, etc). Which is very
impressive!!
I would have to say my proudest moment of them both is about 6 mos to
a year ago. They were tracking a man with a gun. The man had run from
officers on scene and they called Jeremy out to assist. One of those
call outs I didnt get the story on unitl after it was over. (it scares
me to think about those - I was in law enforcement for 5 years and know
how easy things can go way wrong!) Anyway, they tracked the scent from
a local hotel through an area of storage sheds (a business and concrete
groud with privacy fence along one side) and up to a chainlink fence
fence to find out the suspect had jumped the fence at a "T".
So they had to go back out and around buildings to get to the other
side of the chian link fence. Now they are on the same side as before
of a privacy fence but around the chain link fence to continue the sniff.
Jeremy has one "rookie" officer with him as back up and while
doing a track is unable to have his gun out of his holster, just has
Mekky on a leash. Well, Mekky comes to a spot on the privacy fence and
starts to paw at the groud as though he wants to get through and then
sits (which is his sign to Jeremy that he has located what he is after).
Very quickly after this as they are attempting to get behind a truck
parked close by and transmit this information to other officers, while
doing so on the other side of the fence they hear a gunshot!!! Im sure
their hearts jumped out of their chest and Jeremy said all Mekky was
doing was pulling to go toward the fence and barking while he was trying
to get him behind the truck. Ends up they located the subject and he
had shot himself but all officers went home safe. It was a very tense
night and their first "successful" track in the line of duty.
Everything worked in their/our favor and they carried out what they
do time after time in training. I was proud mostly because they came
home, but because Mekky and Jeremy were able to locate the subject and
end the harm being done to others.
We love our family and it just wouldnt be the same without Mekky!
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Thank you to Officer Ballew
and Mekky and all the others out there who work so hard to keep us all
safe. If you are, or know a K9 officer, or Mounted Patrol or Search
& Rescue, please contact me to receive a free oil portrait at absolutely
no cost or obligation to you
If you are a member
of Search & Rescue, K-9 or Mounted Patrol, please allow me to paint
a small portrait for you at no charge, in gratitude for your service.
PLEASE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PROJECT OR TO
COMMISSION YOUR OWN PORTRAIT
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