ABOUT Shawnee 

Shawnee is a 3 year old spayed female German Boxer who
was trained and raised by  Kathy and George Hubert-Marcos
of Bachbett Kennels, Mindoro.  She was made available for
law enforcement because of problems she had whelping in
their breeding program.    Her father was born and raised in
Germany and is currently a K-9 officer with LaCrosse County.   

McDonah and his partner trained together for about one month,
but Shawnee’s training is much more extensive.  (Both she and
her mother respond only to commands spoken in German, part
because of the older dog’s training in her country of origin, but
also to prevent counter-commands being given to the dog.)  

This is reflected in a pretty steep price tag for Shawnee and her
training  - $4,500.  This cost has been covered entirely by private
donation from a number of individuals, businesses and
organizations – Ettrick Elementary School students raised nearly
half of that amount with a “Penny War” fund raiser earlier this year.  

Dr. Mark Hein and  Van Loon Animal Hospital are providing  Shawnee’s veterinary care while Clipper’s Food-liner and Johnson Hardware and Rental of Whitehall, and  Piggly Wiggly stores are donating the food for the new canine officer.    

Shawnee is a dual purpose canine; she is trained in drug detection and  tracking.  Her sense of smell has apparently made up for her biggest handicap- she is blind in one eye from birth. “That’s good for tracking,” McDonah says, noting that she learned to compensate with her sense of smell.  Her sense of smell will be pretty good, if her mother’s track record is any indication.  Her Mother, Hailey who serves northern Trempealeau County, has been called to “sniff” 632 times, alerting in 162 of those instances, out of which drugs were found 122 times; she also has been called on to track suspects 28 times, resulting in 22 arrests, of which 19 were for felonies.  

When drugs are suspected at traffic stops or  in search warrants , Officer McDonah is notified and Shawny goes to work for the county.  She can search a vehicle for drugs in a matter of minutes and find Drugs hidden beneath sheetrock or under floorboards.  She is certified in the detection of Marijuana, methamphetamines, cocaine and heroine.    

The county has invested hundreds of hours of training in both Shawny and Officer McDonah. Hence, it is imperative that we maximize Shawny's longevity so that She and Officer McDonah have years of service together to benefit Trempealeau County's drug enforcement and officer safety.   

To assure a long life for Shawnee, Van Loon Animal Hospital has recently performed Gastric Surgery on Shawnee to help prevent her stomach from twisting[ Gastric Torsion].  This condition is common to deep chested dogs like boxers.  We also have Shawny on a strict dentistry program which will involve gum surgery and dental cleanings every six months to reduce gingivitis and hyperplasia of her gums.  Hyperplastic gum tissue is another condition common to boxers.  Shawny has a heart murmur; we hope controlling her gum disease will lessen the possibility of heart valve infections.  

Picture Gastric Surgery [ Tacking her stomach down to prevent Gastric Torsion] ; surgery performed by Dr. Dustin Borkosky