Pieces Falling

Lost and Found

A Facebook message from a K9 handler brought a delightful Father’s Day surprise in 2014.

Unbeknownst to me, the TSA K9 program had been naming dogs after the American heroes who sacrificed their lives on September 11, 2001.

So when a state trooper messaged me and said he was now the handler for Van Hine, I was surprised and delighted.

Bruce would have loved that.

Van Hine was a three–year–old yellow lab trained as a narcotics dog for the TSA and then adopted by the Texas state police. His new handler wanted to let me know how honored he was to work with Van Hine. He sent me photos, and Meghan sent him Squad 41 t-shirts.

A lovely friendship developed. A few years later when we visited his home state, he supplied great information on restaurants and sights to see. Unfortunately, we were still too far away to meet.

Recently, Ryan received a promotion and tried to personally adopt Van Hine, but Van Hine is too good at his job, so the adoption was denied. Van Hine is still fighting crime and Ryan has an open invitation from me for a free walking tour.