2 of Anaheim’s Finest to Retire : Police: Erro and Dido, two Anaheim law enforcement dogs--veterans of many a chase--will hang up their collars soon, and its back yards and bones from then on.

During his eight years with the Anaheim Police Department, Erro has discovered intruders on the roof of a local high school, sniffed out a murder weapon and leaped off an eight-foot wall in pursuit of a criminal.

Erro, a 75-pound German shepherd, even endured an arthritis operation to stay on the job. But Erro is nearly 12 years old--elderly by canine standards--and it’s time for the oldest working police dog in California to retire.

“I think he’s going to miss driving around,” said Anaheim Police Officer Bill Bird, who has been Erro’s handler since the dog joined the force. “If he can’t get out there and look for people to find, he doesn’t want to do anything.”

Next month, the department’s most successful canine will leave active duty for a life of leisure and dog bones in Bird’s back yard. Also retiring is Dido, a German shepherd who spent the last four years sniffing out drugs for the department. Dido, who has spinal arthritis, will also become the property of his handler, Officer Robert Lay.

Erro has participated in more than 650 searches and is responsible for 76 felony arrests, according to police statistics. Imported from Germany when he was about 2 years old, Erro has done everything from ride in helicopters to fall through ceilings for the Anaheim police. But he is now starting to go deaf and blind, so the department decided to retire him, Bird said.

Working with Erro, Bird said, amounted to a struggle of wills.

“He’s just real hyper,” Bird said. “He’s the type of dog that likes to control. . . . He and I would get into fights all the time.”

Once, Bird got so mad at Erro for roaming all over the police car that the officer stopped the vehicle, climbed into the back seat and read the dog the riot act.

“We went face to face,” he said. “That’s how I got bit. . . . I’m kind of high-strung. We kind of feed off each other.”

But in the end, “I always win,” Bird said.

Bird isn’t worried about fighting with Erro at home, though, because the dog assumes a different personality off the job.

“He just lays around and doesn’t do a thing,” he said. “But when he sees a police car or a police uniform, it’s like turning on a light switch.”

Dido’s specialty is narcotics, and the dog has conducted 54 searches that resulted in the recovery of $450,000 in money and drugs. But Dido is also skilled at tracking humans, as he demonstrated earlier this year, Lay said.

Anaheim officers were pursuing a suspect on foot but lost track of him near a canal. It was dark and the canal water looked murky, Lay recalled, but Dido caught a scent. Police searched the canal in that area and discovered the suspect, who was hiding under water.

“All you could see was his behind and the corner of his mouth where he had been breathing,” Lay said.

Dido is Lay’s second police dog. He also adopted Cliff, the first dog he handled, who has since died. Lay said the 95-pound Dido spends a lot of time indoors and loves to play with the family’s three children.

“He would be a lap dog if you’d let him,” Lay said.

Erro and Dido will be replaced by two new police dogs that cost about $5,000 each, Bird said. The two officers will be assigned to regular patrol duties after the dogs retire Jan. 18.

“I’ll miss working with him,” Lay said of Dido.