{"id":478,"date":"2018-10-30T01:26:58","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T01:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2018\/10\/30\/20181029k-9\/"},"modified":"2020-09-05T19:41:53","modified_gmt":"2020-09-05T19:41:53","slug":"20181029k-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/2018\/10\/30\/20181029k-9\/","title":{"rendered":"Saying goodbye to a Hamden hero"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mackenzie Campbell<\/p>\n

When an officer dies unexpectedly after six years of active service, it\u2019s difficult to forget the impact he or she made on those that work within their police station.<\/p>\n

That can be said for K-9, Viking, who died on Saturday, Sept. 15. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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K-9 Viking<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Hamden police officers say they will remember Viking for helping them arrest violent offenders.<\/p>\n

But for Sergeant Jason Venditto, Viking\u2019s memory will live on differently. <\/p>\n

The journey started when Sergeant Venditto became an officer with the Milford Police Department in 1999. After spending a year and a half in Milford he relocated and joined the Hamden Police Department. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Sergeant Jason Venditto with his partner Viking.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI have been in Hamden for eighteen years now,\u201d said Venditto. \u201cIn September of 2003 I became a K-9 handler.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before he picked Viking, Venditto worked with another K-9 for ten years on the Hamden Police Force. <\/p>\n

\u201cI picked Viking and I trained him myself,\u201d said Venditto. \u201c It took me about seven months to get him trained and on the road.\u201d <\/p>\n

Through training, the relationship between the two partners grew stronger as they learned how to work together as a cohesive unit. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is constant maintenance training,\u201d said Venditto. \u201cOnce you finish your initial training you have to continue the training, you have to do something every day if you want to be a good team and succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the K-9 worked closely with Sergeant Venditto, he became part of the Venditto family.<\/p>\n

Venditto\u2019s  son, 14, and daughter, 18,  began to cultivate loving relationships with Viking after a short time. <\/p>\n

\u201cBoth dogs lived at home with myself and my family,\u201d said Venditto. \u201cFor fifteen years we have had a police dog living with us in our home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venditto spoke of the close relationships his children shared with Viking. \u201cMy children were wonderful [with Viking] , especially my son.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cViking just ended up taking to him,\u201d he said.  \u201cHe is the one person I could trust with the dog besides myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The week leading up to Sept. 15, Sergeant Venditto attended a K-9 training seminar in Kansas City, Missouri. <\/p>\n

\u201cI put Viking in a kennel while I was away, thinking that he would be safer there,\u201d said Venditto.<\/p>\n

Sergeant Venditto left on a Monday and got home late on Friday, Sept. 14., later than he expected and unable to pick up Viking from the kennel.<\/p>\n

Early Saturday morning Venditto unexpectedly woke up to a phone call.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a call from Cheshire emergency vet on Saturday morning saying that the kennel brought Viking down because he didn\u2019t look right,\u201d Venditto said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Overnight, Viking had developed stomach bloat \u2013 when a dog\u2019s stomach twists and then fills with gas. If the condition goes unnoticed it is life threatening and requires surgery. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was told they were doing emergency surgery on him and I rushed down to the vet,\u201d said Venditto. <\/p>\n

After moving Viking into surgery, the veterinarian informed Venditto that there was too much organ failure and there wasn\u2019t much that they could do to help Viking. <\/p>\n

\u201cI never even got to say goodbye to him,\u201d said Venditto. \u201cI had to tell them to euthanize him while he was in surgery.\u201d <\/p>\n

Weeks after the loss of his beloved partner, Sergeant Venditto is still grieving and finding ways to work through his loss with his children. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey both took it tough, \u201c said Venditto. \u201cMy son was very upset because he loved Viking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think my daughter was more upset because she knew how much I loved Viking and she didn\u2019t want to see me upset.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sergeant Venditto and his family were not prepared to say goodbye to Viking but his memory will not fade away. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am doing better,\u201d said Venditto. \u201cI appreciate all of the support and condolences we are receiving after the loss of Viking.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When an officer dies unexpectedly after six years of active service, it\u2019s difficult to forget the impact he or she made on those that work within their police station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hamden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2533,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478\/revisions\/2533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hqnn.org\/hqpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}