Lake County Sheriff’s Office Canine Dax recently came in first place during a national certification test and will appear this weekend on an ESPN television program, officials said.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office said Dax and his handler, Deputy John Forlenza, recently completed their national certification for the United States Police Canine Association (USPCA) in Georgia.
Dax took first place finishes for tracking and narcotics work with the USPCA.
Along with his standard tracking certification and first-place finish, in which he scored 179.67 out of 180 points, Dax was the only canine to attempt the USPCA’s Tracking Exceptional Certification.
He earned a near-perfect score of 269.5 out of 270 points on that certification.
The sheriff’s office said Dax and Forlenza were selected to take part in ESPN 2’s Dynamic K9 Duos program.
The program is scheduled to air at 3 p.m. CST on Sunday.
Dax will be shown completing the detector portion of his national certification. Forlenza will also be on the program for an interview.
In 2019, Dax won Law Enforcement Hero Dog of the year.
“The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is proud to announce out of nearly 900,000 votes cast across the nation, K9 Dax, has won the distinction of being the nation’s top Law Enforcement Hero Dog of the year!” the sheriff’s office said at the time.
Dax began his career with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office in 2015.
The canine is continuously featured in the news for his work in tracking missing people, finding fleeing suspects and recovering illegal narcotics.
Last weekend, the sheriff’s office announced their newest canines, Zeus and Drako, have officially graduated from training.
The sheriff’s office now has 10 active canines on the department.