You’ll need something to wipe those tears by the time you’re done reading this.
Former Geauga County Sheriff Dan McClelland recently passed after a long battle with illness.
His K-9 partner Midge was at his side every day. She passed at the age of 16 just a few hours later at McClelland’s home.
There’s no question about it. Dan and Midge had a deep connection.
Geauga County in Ohio once boasted of having the world’s smallest certified police dog.
A rat terrier chihuahua named Midge. Together with Sheriff Dan McClelland, this duo helped keep their county safe.
McClelland and Midge spent a decade together fighting crime between 2006 and 2016.
It was also when McClelland retired on his 44 year career with the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office.
Midge is actually in the Guinness Book of World Records as the smallest police dog on the planet.
She could go where the big dogs could not.
Midge was so calm on the job, she could sniff out cars without tearing up the interior.
Her size made it easier for her to get underneath vehicles and even in to tighter spaces.
McClelland’s successor, Sheriff Scott Hildenbrand said,
“He used to joke that people would see him in a parade in a car and would say, ‘Hey, there’s Midge and whatshisname,’ I think she was more popular than him.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine gave a touching tribute to McClelland and Midge by saying,
“I was saddened to hear of the passing of former Geauga County Sheriff Dan McClelland and his drug-sniffing partner Midge, a chihuahua-rat terrier mix. In 2006, Midge was certified by Guinness World Records as the smallest police dog in the world,”
DeWine continued.
“As Attorney General I got to work with Sheriff McClelland – and Midge was always nearby. They will both be missed.”
All dogs go to heaven. Especially the ones in uniform.
Dan and Midge’s decade long partnership got them so much attention that they actually appeared on daytime television talk shows and were even mentioned in magazines.
You know they say that one should never get attached to anyone at work.
Well try working with a dog for years.
McClelland and Midge were inseparable, with lives that were unwaveringly intertwined.
They became rock stars in their county. Those were years well spent together.
Midge maintained her K-9 certifications until their joint retirement.
McClelland and Midge will be buried together.
And if you think that Midge died of a broken heart, I’d say you’re right. S
he was already 16, having given her entire life to Dan and the force.
What else was left for Midge when Dan died? She’d rather join him on the other side.
It may be heartbreaking but there’s a poetic beauty to it.
Dan saw the big bright light but before he stepped in to it, he heard a familiar bark behind him.
Now that’s one piece of heaven he’ll have with him forever.
Watch the touching story between a man and his dog below.
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