K-9 officer Maverick is settling into his retirement, making the delicate transition from drug detection dog to family pet.
On a recent Saturday morning in December, the long-haired German Shepherd lounged on Dustin and Lauren Cook’s living room floor intently gnawing on his chew toy, as the couple’s two young sons moved around the room, chattering enthusiastically.
“We’re still pretty excited about him coming home,” Lauren said.
Maverick was retired from the Garvin County Sheriff’s Office in December for health reasons and returned to his original handler, Dustin Cook. The pair had been separated since 2018.
While the Cooks are ecstatic to have Maverick back in their home, the transition to civilian life can sometimes take some adjustment for a K-9.
For example, having a toy just for the sake of playing with it is a new concept for Maverick.
“When they’re working, they don’t have toys to play with,” Dustin said. “Their reward for doing their job is their toy.”
“I think that’s the hardest thing for them, for K-9’s, is to adjust, because that’s what they’ve known for their entire life,” Lauren said. “That’s why we’re just trying to find the easy way for him to adjust in that sense. I really want to take him up to (the pet store) and let him pick out his own toy, because he’s never had the opportunity to do that.”
Maverick was 2 when he began his career as a K-9 with the Stratford Police Department in 2016.
Dustin, a Stratford police officer at the time, had wanted to start a K-9 program, but funding was an issue. So, with the permission of the department, Dustin solicited donations from the community, raising enough money to purchase a dog and the training and equipment needed to get the program off the ground.
Dustin partnered with local K-9 trainer Kelvin Hall, choosing Maverick from among the dogs Hall was working with at the time. The two trained together for months, culminating in Maverick earning state certification as a drug detection dog.
Unfortunately, Hall passed away unexpectedly not long after Maverick was certified.
Though he was already certified through the State of Oklahoma, Maverick was the first of Hall’s dogs to also be nationally certified as a drug dog.
“I did it the first time to see where we were at and to see what we needed to work on, stuff like that,” Dustin said. “We ended up walking out certified. It was a big deal.”
“It was awesome,” Lauren said. “I wish Kelvin had been there to see it. He would have been overjoyed.”
K-9 officers typically go home with their handler-partners when their shift is over, quickly becoming an integral part of their home and family life.
“Maverick was my partner on the streets, but he also protected my family at home,” Dustin said.
Lauren and Dustin have a full repertoire of stories about Maverick as a young K-9 officer.
“He was always ready to load up as soon as the car would start. We would go do demonstrations for students at schools where he loved playing with and talking to the kids,” Dustin said. “And he never missed a chance to grab my hat through the door of the car and shred it, or lick all the whipped cream off the Sonic shakes I bought.”
As they continue to reminisce about those early days, there are stories about the time Maverick ate the first several pages of Dustin’s warrant book, the times he would drag his dog house in a circle, or use his head to dump his water bucket over his back and then plop down in front of his fan to stay cool in the summer.
“The craziest deal though out of him was, every day before we’d leave to go to work (Lauren) would go out and see him. He’d jump up on her and give her loves. Every day. One day, out of nowhere, he just stops. Quit doing it,” Dustin said.
The couple said Maverick would sniff Lauren’s hand, lean up next to her leg so she could pet him, but no more jumping.
“I was like, ‘Did I do something? Is he mad at me?’” Lauren said.
A few weeks later, Lauren and Dustin got news they now believe Maverick already knew. Lauren was pregnant with their first child.
After the baby was born, Lauren said Maverick would sleep by the bassinet nearly the whole time he was off shift.
By 2018, after two years of working together, circumstances changed, and Dustin made the difficult decision to leave the Stratford Police Department.
Because Maverick belonged to the Town of Stratford, Dustin was ultimately forced to leave Maverick behind.
“It does hurt our heart that he’s older now, and we missed out on so much time, but a friend recently told me, ‘He just had so many more lives to touch before he came home,’ and it just offered me so much peace,” Lauren said.
Maverick was assigned to another handler in the department, and Dustin still had the opportunity to see him from time to time.
“I still got to know what he was doing. I got to see him every once in a while,” Dustin said.
With the town’s blessing, Maverick eventually moved to the Garvin County Sheriff’s Office with his second handler.
By early 2022, Maverick was teamed with a third handler, Deputy Brandon Stockard.
The average career span for K-9 officers is 10 years. At nearly 8 years old, Maverick was quickly approaching retirement age, especially for a breed prone to arthritis and hip dysplasia.
Maverick worked with Deputy Stockard for most of the year, and then one night last fall Dustin said he got a call from Stockard, who told him Maverick was beginning to show signs of winding down and had developed a limp.
Dustin said he had previously let the Sheriff’s Office know when it was time to retire Maverick, he would do whatever they needed him to in order to reclaim his old partner, including buying the K-9 back or paying medical bills.
“I just wanted him to come home,” Dustin said.
Stockard and Dustin kept in touch over the next few weeks as Maverick made trips to a veterinarian to see if he just had an injury or if his limp was the beginning of a permanent condition.
By mid- to late November, Dustin got word that the veterinarian had determined Maverick’s condition was unlikely to improve and had recommended his retirement.
The Sheriff’s Office agreed that returning Maverick to his original handler was the right thing to do for all involved and the appropriate arrangements were made.
In early December, Dustin got a call from Stockard letting him know all the paperwork had been signed off on and he could bring Maverick home. It just happened to be Dustin’s birthday.
Maverick came home that evening, and once the household settled in for the night Lauren said, “We sat in here and just watched him. It was just so surreal.”
Dustin and Lauren have wasted no time in reintegrating Maverick back into their family structure, reacquainting him with their 5-year-old and introducing him to their 2-year-old for the first time.
“Their biggest deal is they like to play. And he gets tired,” Dustin said.
The boys like to throw a ball for Maverick, Dustin said, and when Maverick gets tired, he takes the ball to his kennel and lays on it. “They love to play fetch with him until he gets tired, then they are all about petting him and watching cartoons,” Dustin said.
He adds he is grateful to the Sheriff’s Office for making the reunion with Maverick possible.
“I just want to give a huge thank you to Sheriff Jim Mullett, Undersheriff James Richardson, Deputy Brandon Stockard and the rest of the Garvin County deputies for letting him come back home to us,” Dustin said. “They worked really hard to make that happen.”
Dustin said he’s thrilled to have his partner and friend back with him, but he also realizes the aging K-9 won’t be with them forever.
“While he is home, we are going to make the best of his retirement,” Dustin said.
Lauren is already in the habit of leaving country music playing for him when she leaves the house, and Dustin said he envisions plenty more car rides and kiddy-sized whipped-cream shakes in their future.
The Cooks are working on building a fenced-in area at their rural home where Maverick, who like most K-9’s is used to spending his off-duty hours in a kennel, can enjoy his daytime hours.
“That’s our goal is to get him a big ole backyard he can play in and have fun. He’s going to be filthy. I know it. But I’ll deal with it.” Lauren said, grinning. “He’s never had the chance to be a spoiled dog before. He’s been a tool, and now he gets to be a pet.”
