Harley, the Othello Police Department's German Shepherd, retires from K-9 unit

OTHELLO — Menacing, he runs toward you.

While some pets looks like their owners, this one looks like its namesake. A massive motorcycle of a dog with the speed to match, coming right at you; its black and orange coat a sign of its pedigree and the look in its eye one full of confidence.

A look that says "I have seen scary things. And you are not one of them"

And then, something catches the onlooker's terrified eye. The front left leg of this canine mastodon rests crooked, its owner not putting any weight on it when he runs. Harley, the fearsome German shepherd, sole member of the Othello Police Department's K-9 unit, has a bad leg.

For a moment, the sight isn't quite as scary anymore.

That is, until you start hearing the stories.

About how he chased down a guy who had a 9mm pistol on him and hundreds of rounds. About how he caught another criminal hiding with 80 pounds of marijuana. About how he went to schools and showed kids his pentalingual capabilities, receiving instructions in five different languages from Othello Police officer Homero Montemayor, his longtime trainer.

And about how in 2003, during a training demo, he broke his front left leg and never quite recovered, forcing him into retirement, which became official last month.

"He was a great dog," said Ron Axtman, chief of the Othello Police Department. "It's unfortunate he got hurt and we could not continue using him."

The city of Othello, instead of euthanizing a fairly healthy dog, opted to surplus him, handing him over to Montemayor to take care of. Not a big sacrifice, given that Montemayor's house had been Harley's home since the city bought him in 2001.

"When we go to work, we work," partner Montemayor said. "When we are at home, he's a pet."

Alas, Harley is not working anymore, much to the dismay of Montemayor, who had found a heck of a partner in the 5-year-old dog since they started working together in 2002.

"I trained him to meet the department's needs," he said. This included running a five-mile track, recognizing and detecting scents of drugs such as meth, marijuana, cocaine and heroin, as well as responding to commands in Spanish, English, German, Dutch and sign language.

"Everybody misses him," he said of the people at the OPD, who presented Harley with two large leather bones during a city council meeting the day his retirement became official.

City officials are studying a number of options to find a replacement for the venerable pooch. These options go from purchasing a fully trained dog from Lacklund Air Force Base in San Antonio to finding one in a kennel in the Northwest. The responsibility of training the new dog would again fall to Montemayor, who believes that retirement is the best thing for Harley.

"We need a dog that can perform at 100 percent," he said. "(Harley) did not heal well enough."

Besides his front left leg, which carries two metal plates under the skin, Harley's stress level had become increasingly high. With retirement, Montemayor said Harley's stress level lowered and he became a happier dog, spending his time chasing around his handler's three minuscule Chihuahuas, and perhaps reminiscing of his heyday chasing bad guys. The new dog will likely cost between $5,000 and 6,000 and besides fighting crime, he will have the unenviable task of replacing one Harley V.'THeuske, born in June 1999, retired in March 2005, who, with sharp reflexes and a crooked leg, rode off into the sunset last month, leaving a void in the lives of those who worked with him.

"To a handler, the dog becomes kind of like one of his kids," Montemayor said, adding "The dog gets attached to the handler and the handler to the dog."