When Gainesville Police Officer Josh Meurer’s partner arrived to the city from Germany in February, they didn’t bond right away. But after a month of training and playing fetch together, Meurer and Ranger are inseparable.
The police department introduced Ace and Ranger —its two newest K-9 Unit members — to the Gainesville community Monday morning in a press conference at its headquarters, located at 545 NW Eighth Ave.
Ace and Ranger, two 18-month-old German shepherd/Belgian Malinois mixes, sniffed their way around the department’s Hall of Heroes room to greet roughly 20 residents and police officers in attendance. Ranger smiled with his tongue flopping out of his mouth while Ace posed calmly for photos.
The K-9s panted and whimpered loudly as Lt. Jeff Blundell thanked the donors who raised money for the department to purchase the dogs, which cost about $8,000 each, and presented plaques commemorating their donations. Nancy Perry, 72, and her goddaughter 10-year-old Kaiya Varner, donated the money to purchase Ace. Steven A. Bagen & Associates, a Gainesville law firm, donated the rest for Ranger.
The GPD K-9 Unit has a total of seven dogs and is looking to add two more dogs by November, Blundell said.
Ace and Ranger are dual-purpose K-9s, which means they’re trained to patrol the streets with their handler and sniff out narcotics.
As mixed breeds, Ace and Ranger have the best of both worlds: the small frame of a Belgian Malinois and nose of a German shepherd.
The dogs undergo a three-month initial training to learn obedience and commands, Blundell said. Gainesville police K-9 handlers begin living with their new partners a week before training to bond.
Meurer and Ranger have two more months of training before they are certified by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Meurer said.
Meurer said he thought flying from Germany to Gainesville was a culture shock for Ranger. When he first moved in, Ranger didn’t notice the screen door in his home and tried to run through it. After bouncing off the screen, the pup shook it off and tried again, Meurer said.
Meurer said he didn’t expect Ranger to become such a big part of his life, but now the two are inseparable.
“When I leave a room, he’ll follow me,” he said. “When I take a shower, he’ll wait outside the door until I’m done.”
Ace loves to be the center of attention. Although he stays off the furniture at home, he jumped on top of tables to greet everyone speaking with his handler Officer Edward Ratliff at the press conference.
Ace moved into Ratliff’s home Dec. 13 and completed his training two weeks ago. Ratliff said he bonded with Ace by going on walks together, playing ball and feeding him peanut butter.
“He’s the coolest dog in the neighborhood,” Ratliff said.
Contact Amanda Rosa at arosa@alligator.org. Follow her on Twitter at @AmandaNicRosa.
Edward Ratliff, 32, Gainesville Police Department Police officer pets Ace, 26-month old German Shepherd and Belgian Malinois mix, who is one of the newest additions to the K-9 special unit.
