HANCOCK COUNTY — He was the cutest, sweetest and toughest drug-sniffing K-9 officer in the county. Manni retired from service recently after a decade of dedicated drug interdiction work with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department.
Manni, a nearly 13-year-old Border Collie/Springer Spaniel mix, started working with Sgt. Nick Ernstes in 2014 and remained his work partner until Manni’s final official day on the job March 28.
“Working with Manni has been the greatest thing I’ve ever done as far as being a law enforcement officer, hands down,” Ernstes said. “He’s very, very smart and super obedient. Being without him is going to be hard.”
Together, Ernstes and Manni were a true dynamic duo. They seized 180 pounds of meth, 90 pounds of Fentanyl, 25 pounds of cocaine, 18 pounds of heroin, 2,500 pounds of marijuana and over $500,000 of U.S. currency from criminal vehicles traveling through the county and surrounding area.
“Those are really, really good bust numbers for the Midwest in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio,” Ernstes said.
Manni is a true testament to the saying “It doesn’t matter where you start, but how you finish that counts.”
Manni started his life as a rescue pup and turned into one of the top-notch drug-sniffing K-9s in the state.
He will now spend his golden years with Ernstes and his family, along with the other family dog, living the good life.
“He’s earned retirement,” Ernstes said. “My family, including our kids, they all love Manni and are very, very close to him.”
For Ernstes, who for years worked as a PACE Team Coordinator patrolling I-70 through Hancock and surrounding counties looking for illegal drug criminals, noted he needed a trained K-9 to help him do his job correctly.
“You can’t do drug interdiction work without a K-9 partner,” Ernstes said.
When Ernstes got into law enforcement decades ago, he never imagined he’d end up with such a friendly and competent dog to partner with over the past 10 years.
“I was dead set on getting a lab, but Julie Case from Ultimate Canine, who helps us get dogs, told me she thought she found my match, so she flew him in from Utah and we bonded instantly,” Ernstes said.
After being rescued as a puppy, Manni and his brother were originally trained to be hunting dogs, but Manni didn’t like being around shotguns. Due to the fact Manni still had a high drive, officials felt he would be perfect for police work. After training with Ultimate Canine, Manni and Ernstes hooked up for a week of handler training and have been bonded ever since.
“Manni was productive on Day One of his deployment when he had a U.S. currency seizure that paid for him over 10 times,” Ernstes said.
Manni continued the hard work right up to and through his last day. On Manni’s last day as a K-9 officer, Ernstes said that the two got up, reported for duty and went straight to work rolling down I-70. Just like they had done so many times over the past decade, they sniffed out a criminal.
“We apprehended a U.S. National fugitive in a rental car for dealing methamphetamine,” Ernstes said. “In the first 45 minutes of the shift, we stopped a vehicle and we got him — went out with a bang.”
Ernstes, who has been in law enforcement for nearly three decades, noted that even though Manni has only been gone from work for a few days, work is a little tougher without his furry friend around. The saving grace, Ernstes said, is when he heads home and Manni is waiting for him.
“It’s strange pulling up somewhere without him,” Ernstes said. “Sometimes, it’s kind of sad, but when I’m home, he’s no further than a leash away from me at all times.”
Working with Manni has been the most rewarding part of his law enforcement career to date, Ernstes said, adding that, until an officer works with and bonds with a dog, it might be hard for others to understand just how great that kind of partnership can be.
“It’s the best,” Ernstes said. “I’m really going to miss him.”
However, there is no replacing a work partner like Manni. Ernstes noted he has not heard of any plans to get him a replacement dog and now that Ernstes is working a different schedule and shift for the department, he doubts that will happen.
“I guess we’ll probably leave that with a younger officer,” Ernstes said.
Ernstes has hundreds of photos of his and Manni’s time working together in the field, including photos of Manni standing next to pounds of illegal drugs and dirty money the dog helped get off the streets.
While it was hard to make the decision, it was time for Manni to retire. Ernstes said that seeing Manni slow down over the past couple of years alerted him that his best friend and partner needed to retire and be a normal senior dog who gets to soak up the lazy days.
“The other day when I left for work, Manni didn’t even wake up,” Ernstes said with a laugh. “He’s the king at our house — that’s for sure — and can do absolutely no wrong.”
That kind of treatment is appropriate for a dog Ernstes said he considered to be the king of the road.
