Retired Westmoreland Park Police dog takes a bow

After a decade of duty, Rex, Westmoreland County’s explosive detection dog, is calling it quits.

The 11-year-old Belgian Malinois that served as the first K9 officer with the county’s Park Police Department, was retired from service in February.

The canine and his handler, Officer Bill Meyers of Hempfield, were honored Thursday by Westmoreland County for their work.

“He’s a great co-worker to fellow park police employees,” according to a resolution approved Thursday.

Rex and Meyers worked as a team throughout Westmoreland County with a primary assignment to patrol at the parks. They routinely were dispatched to help track fugitives, perform safety sweeps at the courthouse, Arnold Palmer Regional Airport, other county properties as well as at various local events.

Henry Fontana, chief of the Westmoreland County Park Police, said Rex’s final assignment was last month in North Huntingdon when he was called out to help search for explosives after the Norwin School District received a bomb threat. Rex was deployed on special details about two to three times a month, Fontana said.

Meyers recently completed a three-month training course with Rex’s replacement, a 1-year-old German Shepherd mix named Rico. Rico started work earlier this month.

Rico was purchased from Germany for Westmoreland County through the Pennsylvania Region 13 Task Force that consolidates public safety and emergency service programs of 12 southwestern Pennsylvania counties and the city of Pittsburgh.