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Cocoa Police Introduce 2-Year-Old Western Shepherd ‘Maverick’ as Newest Member of K-9 Team

By  //  March 31, 2022

will take over patrol duties of retired K-9 Bear

Cocoa police officials recently introduced the newest member of the K-9 unit team, a 2-year-old Western Shepherd from Texas named Maverick. On Monday, K-9 Maverick passed all the required skills to be certified for patrol work and began his patrol duties Tuesday evening. (CPD image)

BREVARD COUNTY • COCOA, FLORIDA – Cocoa police officials recently introduced the newest member of the K-9 unit team, a 2-year-old Western Shepherd from Texas named Maverick.

K-9 Maverick began his patrol duties Tuesday evening following his official certification as a patrol dog and is assigned to K-9 Officer Dan Rhoades.

Maverick is taking over the patrol duties of K-9 Bear, who is now officially retired after nearly 8-years of dedicated service to the Cocoa Police Department and the citizens of Cocoa.

K-9 Bear, also known as America’s Top Dog for winning a nationally televised competition against police K-9 handlers from around the country, was highly skilled in tracking fleeing suspects, locating missing persons, and finding illegal drugs and evidence in criminal cases.

Last year, K-9 Maverick was donated to the Cocoa Police Department by the Brevard Kennel Club. He has been training with Officer Rhoades since he was a puppy. (CPD image)

Last year, K-9 Maverick was donated to the police department by the Brevard Kennel Club and has been training with Officer Rhoades since he was a puppy.

Police K-9 teams receive the most amount of training of all the disciplines in police patrol work, which totals 480 hours and involves obedience control, apprehension, search work, and tracking, along with additional hours for scent detection for drugs.

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