K-9 Bayou retires from sheriff’s office

Bayou, the first of two K-9 officers with the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, retired on Tuesday.

Sheriff Jim Steinkuehler made the announcement official at this week’s Crawford County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Bayou, a Belgian Malinois, joined the sheriff’s office on April 1, 2014.

For nearly 10 years, she has been the county’s K-9 narcotics officer.

Steinkuehler said his office made a decision in 2014 that another tool was needed for when vehicle stops result in suspicion that drugs might be present.

Bayou was bred in Germany to be a narcotics-detecting dog and was sent to K9 Working Dogs International, in Kansas, for training.

The county paid more than $15,000 for Bayou, training of her handler, a kennel and vehicle equipment.

None of the funds came from taxpayers, because the sheriff’s office raised about $18,000 from local businesses and citizens to pay for the dog.

Since she joined the sheriff’s office, Bayou has helped bring in more than $35,000 in drug forfeiture money.

“She’s paid for herself,” Steinkuehler said.

Corey Utech, a deputy in the sheriff’s office in 2014, was Bayou’s first handler.

“Corey had her about four years, and then he wanted to move on and became the chief of police up in Hawarden,” Steinkuehler said. “They didn’t want a dog, so he didn’t take her.”

When Utech departed in January 2018, Steinkuehler decided that he would take over as Bayou’s handler.

“I had been around Bayou and helped feed her when Corey took vacations,” he said. “I went out and did training with her with Corey, so I kind of got to know Bayou.”

Steinkuehler started training with the dog every week, sometimes with exercises set up in the Crawford County Courthouse.

He also spent time in 2018 at K9 Working Dogs International to become certified in narcotics detection with Bayou.

Utech spent three weeks training with Bayou, but Steinkuehler didn’t need nearly as much time.

“With me being around Bayou and knowing how she does her stuff, it wasn’t near as long of a training for me,” Steinkuehler said. “I think I was only gone three or four days.”

He said Bayou isn’t a “takedown” dog, but is protective of her handler.

“She’s good at protecting the one she’s trained to protect,” he said.

Steinkuehler does not plan to replace her with a new dog at the sheriff’s office.

Molly, a German Shepherd, joined the office in October 2019 and will continue in her role as a K-9 narcotics officer.

Since 2018, Bayou has lived with Steinkuehler in Dow City, where she has a heated and cooled kennel.

She is an outside dog, but gets pampered by his wife, Starla.

“They have bonded really well,” he said. “My wife takes care of her a lot, and my granddaughters like to come and pet her. They love her. If I gave her away, I probably wouldn’t be grampa anymore.”

Steinkuehler said Bayou is a well-behaved dog and is completely trustworthy off the leash.

“She’s great with kids,” he said.

Steinkuehler will retire at the end of his present term as sheriff next year; he said recent signs have shown that Bayou needs to retire, too.

“She’s getting up there, and you can tell it,” he said. “In the last couple months, she got an ear infection; she was off kilter a little bit and we took her out of the working stage until she healed.”

He said he wasn’t sure at first if Bayou had suffered a stroke, but she has returned to normal since the issue occurred. 

Steinkuehler plans to take her fishing and spoil her a bit in retirement.

“I’m hoping she has a few more years in her,” he said. “I want her to relax and enjoy it.”

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