The sky rained tennis balls on Jan. 18 as Boulder County Sheriff’s Office deputies celebrated their K-9 dog Halo, who retired this year after eight years of dedicated service.

Halo, a tan and black 10-year-old Belgian Malinois, retired at the beginning of January but is still as active as ever, according to Jason Ryan, a K-9 handler and deputy with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

“At 10 years old, she still acts like she’s between 2 or 4 most of the time,” said Ryan. “She loves to play fetch and she’ll watch a squirrel for hours until it comes down and teases her.”

Born on Jan. 1, 2014, Halo joined the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office in 2017, first partnering with Deputy Kelly Boden until 2021 when Ryan became her handler.

“I got a tip that this little Malinois was down at a rescue center in Nevada, and they reached out and thought she had a great play drive so I just drove there,” said Boden. “She will do anything for a toy, and so that was probably my favorite memory.”

Deputies used toys to train Halo to detect narcotics, Boden said.

“We tend to look at dogs that really love to play, so we find the favorite toy that they love so it’s sort of imprinting,” said Boden. “Then we would take illegal narcotics, cocaine for instance, and hide it and then start presenting things in a room for them to put their nose to, and typically you’ll see some sort of behavioral change.”Boden said that Halo’s toys of choice are either a rubber Kong toy or a tennis ball.

“Upon doing the commands that you have given them to sit or lay down then you give them the toy. And because they love to play so much, they will do anything to get that toy,” Boden said.

Halo was deployed 174 times and contributed to numerous searches, evidence recoveries, criminal apprehensions and suspect tracking, according to the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office.

“Between narcotic sniffs and tracking, we would also do article searches for evidence,” said Ryan. “We’d have a big area where a suspect threw or dropped something, so I would send her out there and give her a command, and she would go back and forth, oftentimes sticking her nose to something on the ground, and then lay down and look at me.”

Ryan said that the dog’s nose still comes in handy, even off the job.

“In fact, I lost my keys in my front yard in the weeds, and I got her out of her kennel and gave her the command, and she found them,” said Ryan with a laugh.

Ryan said that Halo was incredibly perceptive from the get-go, noting that sometime between July and August of 2023, she found a gun that a suspect had thrown into a field in unincorporated Boulder County.

“We employ the dogs for their nose— that’s their main locating tool, right?” Ryan said. “A number of years ago, we had a guy that drove through a field and dumped a gun … we were in this 1,516 acre wheat field. I got her out, and within two minutes, she had already located the firearm.”

Although Halo is rather small for her breed, she is incredibly agile, Boden said.

“I only had 30 days to get her trained for her certification, so it was throwing a lot at a very young dog with very high expectations but she just has great spirit,” said. “When I first got her she was right around 40 to 50 lbs, what we would refer to as a pocket rocket.”

Boden said Halo was certified in finding illegal narcotics, conducting building searches, evidence searches and tracking.

“One of her first deployments was on a vehicle search for narcotics, where we did find some cocaine inside the vehicle,” “It was pretty amazing because she was brand new off her certification … it was within the first month of her actual deployment, and dog’s noses are just so incredible that they can smell the odor from the exterior of the vehicle.”

Halo found over an ounce of cocaine during that particular incident, Boden said.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my kids and Halo,” said. “My kids absolutely loved my working dogs. In fact, Halo’s bed was in my son’s bedroom because she loved him so much.”

Halo now has a permanent home at Deputy Ryan’s house, who Boden says is a wonderful owner.

“Jason has been amazing as a second handler and calls and shares Halo’s successes with me,” said Boden. “He’ll call me and he’ll say, well congratulations to all of us, because she’s certified again. We couldn’t have done it without you.”