Ralph retires, eats entire cake, doesn’t share with newest officer Luc

Ralph was on force since 2008

In dog years, the La Crosse Police Department’s Ralph is 70. For 56 of those (dog) years, he’s been on the force.

In other words, a good time to retire. And the Black Lab goes out, kind of the same way John Elway and Michael Jordan (the first time) did – on top.

“The last competition Ralph had, he came in first in drug detection and the amount of time it takes to get through the course,” La Crosse police chief Ron Tischer said at the pup’s retirement ceremony Monday. “That’s what made it really difficult for us to decide to retire ralph, because right now he’s at the top of his game.”

Two investigations from Ralph in February resulted in a seizure of $5,800 and almost 200 grams of meth.

So, it was a bit of a bittersweet day for fellow officers (the human ones) watching the Black Lab turn in his badge (he didn’t actually wear a badge).

It was even more bittersweet for Luc, the force’s (another Star Wars joke?) newest K-9 member, as he watched Ralph eat the entire retirement cake without sharing with him, or anyone for that matter.

Ralph digs into the retirement cake, thank you Dog Treatery #YumYum pic.twitter.com/dI6ALDmoSW

— La Crosse Police (@Lacrossepolice) August 1, 2016

Ralph began with the police dept. in 2008. Luc got to the U.S. three months ago after being trained in Germany (so that’s where they get the name German Shepherd). Luc is trained in narcotics detection, tracking and handler protection. 

Luc, a 3-year-old (people years) German Shepherd, will ride with officer Dakota Jelinski, who said the two should be ready to go by the end of the month.