Salem Police Dog Axel Calls It A Career

SALEM, MA — One of the elder statesmen of the Salem Police Department called it a career on Monday.

As he looked toward the next stage of his life, Axel the Salem Police K9 is looking forward to his golden years of treats and walks off the leash.

Salem police announced Axel's retirement Monday in an amusing social media post in which they described the way the city's most experienced police canine came to his decision.

"Axel has been contemplating retirement for the past several months," Salem police said in a statement. "It really started when Axel was listening to a group of officers discussing their own upcoming retirements. That got Axel to thinking and calculating...

According to the old hound's tale, Axel knows that one human year is the equivalent of seven dog years. Axel also knows that he is 9 years old. So, doing complex doggy math in his head, Axel calculated his "human age" to be 63 years old."

Salem police credit for Axel being instrumental in helping the department chase bad guys, find people lost in the woods, sniffing out drugs and guns, and said Axel met "many wonderful folks at area K-9 demonstrations."

"He's had a wonderful career, now it's time for a rewarding retirement," police said. "Axel has been working hand-in-leash with Lieutenant Robert Lubas for the past six years. In retirement, Axel has agreed to allow the Lubas family to live in the house while he takes up full-time residence."

On Axel's behalf, Salem police thanked Rosemary O'Connor, Cheryl LaPoint, Andy LaPointe and the Mack Park Neighborhood Association, as well as the Massachusetts Vest-a-Dog organization for helping establish and support Salem's Police K-9 program.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)