Andover police K-9 Thor dies after illness weeks before he was to retire

An Andover police dog died just a few weeks before he was to retire.

Thor the Belgian Malinois would have turned 10 years old next month. The K-9 died Saturday following a brief illness, the Andover Police Department said in a Facebook post.

“Thor was a dual purpose K-9 trained and certified through the Kansas Police Dog Association (KPDA) in both drug detection including Marijuana, Heroin, Methamphetamine and Cocaine, as well as, Patrol Tactics which included building and evidence searching, and had many successful searches during his 8+ year career,” the department said. “Thor was also certified in Tracking and Trailing, and loved to go to the schools and community events to perform demonstrations.”

A memorial tribute is planned for Thor at 1 p.m. Sept. 28 at the amphitheater in Central Park. Andover police officers will wear a black band of mourning through Saturday.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story had the date incorrect for the memorial tribute.

This story was originally published August 19, 2019 at 9:33 PM.