Greendale Police's K-9 Nova Retiring After Years Of Service

GREENDALE, WI — The Greendale Police Department plans on holding a retirement ceremony on Tuesday for K-9 Nova, the narcotics tracking and patrol working police dog that was brought on board in 2013, the department announced on Facebook.

Nova, a German Shepherd/Belgian Malinois mix, has worked with Officer Tony Fitzgerald since training in North Carolina in 2013. The retirement would mark the end of years of service from K-9 Nova.

Early in his career, the department detailed Nova's specialties in a yearly report. Besides his ability to sniff out narcotics, K-9 Nova has been trained on tracking suspects and lost people, searching buildings, finding evidence and apprehending criminals.

Recently, K-9 Nova turned 10. The department posted a photo to their Facebook in honor of the occasion on Nov. 8 with a caption reading "Guess which one of these guys is 70 today?! It's the guy on the left! Today is Nova's 10th birthday."

In 2019, Nova had to get CT scans done on him after he was acting sluggish at a training camp.

The scans found he had a ruptured spinal disk, and his treatment included a few weeks of rest and cortisone-type shots, a Facebook post from the department said.

On Tuesday at 4 p.m. the department will hold a retirement ceremony in honor of K9 Nova at the Greendale Safety Center, 5911 W. Grange Avenue, the department announced.