JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — What do you call a bomb-sniffing Belgian Malinois born in Poland and employed with the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office?
ANSWER: Retired.
SCSO announced that K9 Wojtek officially retired from the force after nine years of working service with the Sublette County Sheriff’s Office and the State of Wyoming.
K9 Wojtek, a Belgian Malinois, was born in Poland in 2011. Wojtek was then flown to the United States where he was trained as an Explosive Detection Canine (EDC) at IronHeart High-Performance Working Dogs, owned by Master Trainer Matt Skogen, in Kansas. After completing his initial training, K9 Wojtek was paired with Sublette County Sheriff’s Office Detective Travis Lanning in February 2013. K9 Wojtek and Detective Lanning completed the final training together at IronHeart and became NAPWDA (North American Police Work Dogs Association) certified.
During his career, K9 Wojtek assisted with protective security sweeps for dignitaries including the Governor of the State of Wyoming, current or former members of the United States Congress, current or former members of the United States Cabinet, former United States Presidents, and other members associated with Capitol Hill or bureaucracies.
Detective Lanning and K9 Wojtek assisted with security at the 2016 Western States Governors’ Association annual meeting, the 2016 Conference of Chief Justices and State Court Administrators, and the Federal Reserve Summit in 2016. K9 Wojtek and Detective Lanning also assisted in sweeping schools related to bomb threats during their nine years of working together.
K9 Wojtek and Detective Lanning extend their sincerest gratitude and appreciation to the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security for offering the EDC program in the State of Wyoming. K9 Wojtek and Detective Lanning would also like to thank former Sublette County Sheriff Dave Lankford for accepting the responsibility of bringing an EDC into the SCSO K9 program and Sublette County Sheriff KC Lehr for his continued support of the program.
On behalf of Jackson Press and our readers: thank you K9 Wojtek for your dedicated service. We wish you well and enjoy the retired life of a regular doggo with Detective Lanning.
