He’s been involved in 600 police jobs, found around 175 people who were trying hard not to be found and even fought an offender armed with a screwdriver.
And now Rusty the police dog is taking a very well-earned retirement.
The big boy (he weighs in at almost 50kg) has been a valued member of SAPOL’s Dog Operations team since 2020, but now it’s time to relax and spend more time enjoying some of his favourite things – riding in the car to school drop offs and hanging out on the farm with the horses, chickens and his little west highland terrier mate.
Rusty’s handler, Brevet Sergeant Ben Fisher (pictured having a cuddle with Rusty), said Dog Operations took on the canine crusader from an Adelaide Hills breeder when he was nine months old.
"I got him pretty much on his first birthday and he went on the training course, graduating in October 2020,” Bvt. Sgt. Fisher said.
It soon became obvious that Rusty had the all the makings of a fine police dog.
“Rusty has a very high drive and when he has his working equipment on and is out of the car, he is looking for action,” Bvt. Sgt. Fisher said.
“Early on Rusty was able to work out the difference between training and jobs and that helped him to be such a good police dog.
“He knows his role and was great at it. As a dog team I was always confident if there was a person to find in our given search area Rusty would find them. He constantly blew me away with what he was able to do.”
And find them he did – despite suspects’ best efforts to run or hide, or both, the big German shepherd had a knack for locating them, helping police locate around 175 people.
He also displayed a high level of bravery, most notably when he took down an armed man in the western suburbs.
“Rusty had a decent run-in with an armed offender in Findon in 2022 that had been on the news a fair bit,” Bvt. Sgt Fisher said.
“He was stabbed with a screwdriver, and we fought with a motivated offender for over two minutes until other police arrived to also help us.
“Rusty was luckily unharmed due to his protective equipment, but the same could not be said for the offender who later regretted his choices.”
So with such a good record, why the early retirement?
Well, like many of us, Rusty has a bit of a dodgy back.
“Rusty is a big dog – both tall and heavy at nearly 50kg – and fairly slim by appearance, and the rigours of the job and his self-sacrificing nature has seen him injured a few times,” Bvt. Sgt. Fisher said.
“He has a bit of a bad back, so after some professional advice and consultation we chose to retire him a bit early to ensure he can have a good retirement.
“He would literally work until he breaks otherwise which no one wants.”
So while Rusty’s career of chasing down screwdriver-wielding offenders might be over, there’s no chance he’s heading for a boring life.
In fact, quite the opposite – he’s retiring to his favourite place, the Fisher family farm.
“It was a very sad day when Rusty retired, but as a family we feel he has the best life,” Bvt. Sgt Fisher said.
“He gets to come to all the school drops. He isn’t bothered by other dogs or people, and he is very happy to sit in the car and come on any trip no matter how short.
“He has a west highland terrier friend (pictured) who bosses him around and he now lives on our farm hanging out with horses and chickens. He has a very good off switch.”
For Bvt. Sgt. Fisher, who is currently training a new dog in PD Griffin, working alongside Rusty has been a treasured experience.
“How amazing these working animals can be, what they can do sometimes is unbelievable,” he said.
“I’ve learnt to always watch what he is doing or looking at and to honour that by checking it out. He has literally found crooks hiding almost amongst other police.
“He is my best mate for sure, I spend way more time with him than my family!
“We regularly just hang out and he is never more than a few metres away.
“That’s what makes the retirement also quite hard because I need to develop the same relationship with Griff, but if feels like an affair on Rusty!
“It’s lucky that in retirement Rusty has been let in the house, and we have shares in vacuum cleaner bags for all the dog hair - but it’s worth it (most of the time).”
