Rex looked expectantly at his handler—and the treat pouch hanging on his belt—as the Long Beach Fire Department chief said a few words about the 13-year-old Labrador retriever on Thursday morning.
His paws tippy-tapped on the ground as he paid closer attention to his handler’s cues than the few people gathered for a small ceremony in his honor outside LBFD headquarters.
Rex, with gray hair speckling his muzzle and black coat, is retiring. The farewell ceremony Thursday marked his 11 years of service as the department’s first search canine.
“There is no question that it takes extreme dedication and passion to train and maintain a constant state of readiness for these amazing animals,” said LBFD Chief Xavier Espino. “Although he is retiring, Rex will always be part of the Long Beach Fire Department family.”
A search canine is a scarce resource and it takes re-certifications every two years to stay on, Rex’s handler, Capt. Wade Haller said. Rex was the only one in Long Beach and part of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Federal Task Force out of Orange County. He’s been deployed to assist in search efforts for disasters including Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the Montecito mudslides in 2018 and missing persons in Long Beach and Whittier.
In one incident in 2018, a load of metal debris fell off of a container truck and onto a sidewalk in Long Beach. Responding to reports that there may have been people on the sidewalk, LBFD deployed Rex to the pile and he was able to quickly confirm that there was no one underneath. Sure enough, they found he was correct when they cleared the sidewalk, Haller said.
“That’s one of the things, especially with a dog like Rex, is that people want to know how many people he found,” Haller said. “And he didn’t find anybody. But, we were able to clear piles where there could have been somebody and it let us continue our work and focus on places that there might be people.”
Rex will be replaced by another Labrador retriever named Dallas, who has already undergone training and certification with Haller. Rex will still get to live out the rest of his days with Haller, his family, Dallas and their non-working dog, Scarlett.
