Two retired K-9 dogs
in Sublette County – Max with the Sublette
County Sheriff’s Department and
Kato with the Wyoming Highway Patrol
– died recently.
Max began his career with the SCSO
in May of 2009. Along with his partner,
Deputy Dan Ruby, Max worked for approximately
5 1/2 years seizing multiple
types of drugs coming into Sublette
County.
K9 Max retired from duty in November
2014, and afterward became a permanent
member of the Ruby family.
Ruby described Max as, “A small lapdog
trapped in a big dog’s body. He was
always happiest near me.”
Deputy Ruby went on to say, “Max
loved to work and play with his toys or
anything that would squeak.”
Earlier in the week, the Wyoming
Highway Patrol reported the death of retired
K-9 Kato on Jan. 9, following a brief
illness.
Kato began his career with the Wyoming
Highway Patrol in 2008 specializing
in narcotics detection assigned to
Trooper Jason Green. In 2011, Trooper
Brandon Deckert was selected as his handler
and the team was assigned to Sublette
County, replacing Trooper Jason
Green who was promoted to lieutenant at
that time.
During Kato’s eight-year career, he was
involved in several significant narcoticsrelated
cases and deployed throughout
Wyoming during concentrated high intensity
drug trafficking area details on
Wyoming highways. Kato was deployed
321 times resulting in the seizure of 277
pounds of marijuana, 5.4 pounds of methamphetamine,
$182,273 dollars of United
States currency directly related to drug
trafficking, approximately 1 pound of
prescription pills, psilocybin mushrooms,
LSD and acid, five firearms, including one
from a school, and two searches that led to
federal investigations involving domestic
and international terrorists.
Trooper Deckert and K-9 Kato were very
active in their community of Pinedale, as
well as other communities throughout Wyoming.
The two of them shared their enthusiasm
for working together while involved in
numerous safety-related presentations, K-9
demonstrations at schools and community
functions.