Raider has a special role in her life.
And no, it’s not to be the narcotics detection dog in Alpharetta, Georgia.
K9 dog Raider always manages to cheer up her dad, Phil Ritchey, when they encounter the worst kinds of police cases.
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Officer Phil Ritchey is a K9 officer in the Community Service Unit of the Alpharetta Police Department. And he goes to work with his K9 dog, Raider, every work day.
Raider is a trained narcotics detection dog and she’s very serious about her job. Her dad, Officer Phil, raves about her good nose.
But, although, Raider is very serious about her job, she also manages to have fun with her dad, her brother, Cooper, and her partner K9 dog, Mattis. And Officer Phil has regularly shown us this side of Raider on their social media accounts.
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Raider has definitely been trained well.
She knows when it’s time to have fun and she knows when it’s time to get serious.
At home, Officer Phil shared that, whenever he went up the stairs, Raider always thought it was a race to the top, even if it wasn’t. And Raider always won.
“We do everything together. I take her with me on rides,” Officer Phil shared.
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And, even if they’re inseparable, Officer Phil believes her brother, Cooper, sometimes gets jealous of Raider.
Because every day, Raider gets to go work with their dad and he has to stay at home.
Whenever they have downtime at work, they make funny videos to keep themselves entertained and alert.
“We have fun with it. That’s probably the only time that I eat donuts is when I make those videos,” Officer Phil explained.
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Cooper’s not the only dog in Raider’s life.
They also have another partner dog that they work with, K9 Mattis.
“The first time Raider and Mattis met, they started sniffing noses and her tail was going 100 miles per hour,” Officer Phil recalled. “Typically, a lot of police dogs don’t get along but they have a good relationship.”
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But mostly, it’s Officer Phil and Raider who work together. And they’re sniffing out cases that involve narcotics.
And sometimes, it gets hard. They’ll come across tragic accidents or people going through the worst moments of their lives. And Officer Phil is grateful that he has Raider by his side always.
“You get in the car and I’ll just call Raider to come up here next to me… [And] it makes everything better. These kisses make everything better,” Officer Phil said.
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And Raider always knew the best way to cheer him up and Officer Phil ends up smiling as he’s smothered with lots of Raider’s kisses.
He says it makes the job a little bit better to have his best friend and sidekick with him always at work.
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Officer Phil and Raider show us that whatever preconceived notions we have of K9 officers and dogs are not always true.
They’re not always mean and strict and it’s comforting to know that K9 officers work hard to have a good and compassionate relationship with their K9 dogs.
Would you like to meet Raider and Officer Phil? Watch the video below.
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