Local News in Brief : Dashing Police Dog Dies

Argos, a German shepherd police dog who dashed through a crowd to rescue an officer and who captured scores of criminals, including one who asked if the dog was for sale, has died at the age of 15.

Argos, whose law enforcement career was ended by a 1983 back injury, died Tuesday. He was buried at the Long Beach Police Academy near Argo, a police dog who was killed in a three-story fall while chasing a burglary suspect earlier this year.

Argos came out of the Long Beach Police K-9 Handlers Course in 1980. He gained the lasting respect of his human partners the following year when he nabbed 61 felony suspects, including burglars, car thieves, rapists and killers.

Officer Robert Stuart, who brought the Danish canine to the United States in 1979, said Argos also once dashed through a crowd of 150 people to save an officer who was about to lose his gun to an assailant.

But perhaps the canine’s greatest compliment was paid by a burglary suspect Argos nabbed. The man called him a nice-looking dog and asked if he was for sale.