“We have had people pulled over and they will say ‘We knew we should not have come through Florence County, we should have known better,'” Florence County Sheriff Teresa Chrisman said. “There is a reputation there now which honestly was not until we had the dogs.”

The K-9 unit has been a part of the Florence County Sheriff’s Office since 2020. Rambo and Rajzi provide a host of services, including detecting and locating illegal concealed drugs, tracking fleeing criminals, locating missing persons and protecting deputies by providing a visible deterrent.

For a small county like Florence County to have one K-9 is really special, Chrisman said, so having two is an unheard-of blessing. The Florence County Board lent its support early on to acquiring the K-9s, she said.

“Also, a lot of credit needs to go to Dan Miller, the former sheriff,” Chrisman said. “He really came in and spearheaded this, but the whole county has been behind it from the very beginning.”

RAJZI IS THE SECOND K-9 with the Florence County Sheriff’s Office. He is shown with handler Deputy Nate Krueger. (Jim Paul/Daily News photo)

Yet the county receives no government funding for the K-9 program. All the money needed to start the K-9 program and cover ongoing costs comes from donations and fundraising by selling merchandise and events such as the recent chicken booyah event and upcoming rifle raffle.

Fundraising is done by Friends of the Florence County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Unit, a 501(c)(3) with seven committee members, including Desiree Windell. The roughly $20,000 they raise each year pays for expenses such as training, insurance and veterinarian bills, though thankfully there have been no emergency vet expenses as of yet. They also have money being set aside for replacement K-9s when Rambo and Rajzi retire.

Adding a K-9 can be pricey, at more than $30,000 apiece. With training, each dog costs about $15,000. Squad cars need to be outfitted with a kennel, emergency door release and heat sensors, at a total cost of $10,000. Other equipment needed included leashes, vests, muzzles, bite suits and bite sleeves.

But having a K-9 unit proved to be a wise investment.

“I have been a deputy here for 23 years and for most of those years there were no K-9s, so at first it was like, ‘Do we really need them,’ because Marinette County was not called up here a ton,” Chrisman said. “As soon as we did get them, the amount of arrests and the amount of drugs we were getting off the street was big. It made an impact right away.”

FLORENCE COUNTY SHERIFF'S K-9 Rambo does a training session with Deputies Eric Windell and Nate Krueger. (Courtesy photo)

Rambo and Rajzi keep busy — between the two the department has a dog on duty just about every day of the year. They each handle more than a dozen drug sniffs a month and an occasional track.

Rambo’s handler, Deputy Eric Windell, said neither K-9 has been used to apprehend a suspect yet, but he believes that is just a matter of time.

Windell credits the two K-9s with being behind more than 40 drug arrests. “It is not like we find huge amounts of drugs — maybe a gram here or there, which to me is still too much but that results in getting the bigger stuff,” Windell said. “We get the small stuff and get someone that wants to give some information and help us out and that leads us to getting the bigger stuff which is huge.”

Those arrests have occurred not only in Florence County but Dickinson County as well through mutual assistance calls.

K-9 Rambo is a 6-year-old German shepherd born in the Czech Republic. He began service in 2020 and is handled by Windell, who joined the Florence County Sheriff’s Office in 2018. Rambo is trained to be a dual-purpose K-9, meaning he can do patrol duties such as officer protection, suspect apprehension, building clearances and article searches along with detection duties.

Rambo lives with the Windells and when off duty is just like a member of the family. He gets along well with the family’s cat and other dog. When Rambo retires around the age of 10, he will continue to live with the Windell family.

On a humorous note, both Rambo and Rajzi are alpha dogs, so they do not do very well together.

Rajzi is a 3-year-old German shepherd born in Bulgaria that has been in service since 2022. Rajzi’s handler is Deputy Nate Krueger, who has been with the Florence County Sheriff’s Office since 2021. Rajzi lives with Krueger, gets along well with Krueger’s cat, and enjoys chasing tennis balls and swimming.

Both Krueger and Windell attended a five-week training course with their respective K-9s at Jessiffany Canine Services in Iron Ridge, Wis. While in Iron Ridge, the deputies helped with the obedience training as a way to bond with their K-9. While their basic commands are in English, many of the commands Rambo and Rajzi use for their job are in other languages.

K-9s are put into service as young as one year and may work until they are 10 or 11.

The Florence County K-9 Unit annual raffle will be at 7 p.m. Nov. 24 at Roadhouse 139 in Long Lake, Wis.