It may be a stretch to call her the most important member of the Madison Police Department, but she is certainly the cutest. This month Madison Police Department K-9 Gwen, affectionately called Gwenie by officers, is retiring after a long and exciting career as a narcotics detection dog. While officers said her retirement is well deserved, there is no doubt she will be missed.

Gwen, a female black Labrador, will be 14 years old in November. Most police dogs retire around the age of eight or nine, but Gwen has put in over a decade of service.

Gwen began her career with the Connecticut State Police and was partnered with Trooper First Class Richard Perron. When Perron moved to the Madison Police Department in 2009, where he is now a lieutenant, Gwen came with him, triggering the rebirth of the Madison Police Canine Program.

Becoming a narcotics detection dog is no simple task. When Gwen was born, she started her career in training as a guide dog for Guiding Eyes for the Blind, but, as Perron put it, “more or less she was a flunk-out as a guide dog.” Gwen was then donated to the Connecticut State Police where her real training began.

With Perron, Gwen went through an 11-week training program to learn the different smells of narcotics through a process called imprinting. Imprinting is built on a simple reward structure: If Gwen finds narcotics, she gets fed. As a narcotics detection dog, Gwen is trained to alert to narcotics and controlled substance odors including marijuana, hashish, cocaine, heroin, MDMA, and steroids.

“She is an expert in narcotics,” said Perron. “These kinds of dogs, you can’t cross train them because you are relying on their alert to get into a package, to get into a house, and know there are narcotics in there.”

So while Gwen is not trained to alert to other things such as bombs or people, her drug-sniffing nose led to a number of high-profile busts with the state police. In her time, Gwen has helped with the seizure of 24 kilos of cocaine, thousands of bags of heroin, and multiple pounds of marijuana, totaling well over $100,000 in value, according to Perron.

Gwen and Perron were involved with investigations targeting drug-trafficking organizations in Northern Connecticut, motorcycle gangs, and the notorious Almighty Latin King Nation gang running drugs in Hartford. Over the years, Gwen and Perron worked with the FBI, ATF, DEA, and numerous state and municipal agencies. Perron said all officers and agents who interacted with Gwen knew she was an important asset.

“They [officers] got to know Gwen and they knew she was a powerful tool,” he said. “She never really gave a false head that I can remember. If she indicated there was something there, there was something there.”

Gwen’s life in Madison over the past few years has certainly been calmer, but Perron said Gwen trains every day and still goes out on car stops, building searches, and other narcotics-based investigations. She performs demonstrations for elementary schools and is sometimes taken out on a call to console an adult or child in crisis.

With her arrival in Madison, Gwen also managed to launch the K-9 program in the department. Perron said he was glad the State Police allowed Gwen to go with him when he retired from the department.

“When I left the State Police I would say she was five or six years old and the state police could have kept her and given her to someone else for a year, but they let me take the dog, retired me and her, and we went on our way,” he said. “It is just fortunate that the chief and the town accepted her.”

Madison now has German shepherd Paco, a K-9 patrol dog, as well as Gwen. With Gwen retiring this month, Madison Police Chief Jack Drumm said the department is currently in the process of bringing in a new narcotics dog. Drumm said the dogs are assets to the Police Department, but he is always surprised by the community support for the dogs as well.

“We have already received a donation to replace Gwen, which lessens the [financial] impact, and even the services supporting the dog are donated, like medical,” Drumm said. “It is just amazing.”

While Drumm said the department is looking forward to the new dog, Gwen’s place in the department cannot be undervalued.

“Gwen served us well, she served the Connecticut State Police well, she has been on various task forces, and she has a rich history in law enforcement,” he said. “She is not just a working K-9 for the police—people are very fond of Gwen.”

In most cases a K-9 and its handler stay together forever and that is true here. When her years of service come to an end this month, Gwen will stay with Perron.

“She is going home with me,” said Perron.