'Pretty fearless:' K-9 puppy Mika visits Streetsboro City Council
Streetsboro City Council finally got a chance to meet the 14-week-old puppy that recently joined the city's police force.
Mika, the German shepherd in training to serve as a K-9 in Streetsboro, visited this week's City Council meeting, accompanied by her handler, officer Luke Nelson.
"She's 3 months old, so she's still a baby, but she's pretty fearless with just about everything," Police Chief Patricia Wain said.
Joshua Miktarian's legacy
Mika is the daughter of Bagio, the K-9 partner of Twinsburg police officer Joshua Miktarian. Years before he was killed in the line of duty, Miktarian, who always dreamed of having one of Bagio's descendants by his side, he had a specimen preserved for future breeding.
On July 13, 2008, Miktarian, a K-9 officer and an 11-year veteran with the Twinsburg police, was shot and killed during a routine traffic stop on Glenwood Drive at 2 a.m. Ashford Thompson was convicted in 2010 of aggravated murder and other charges and sentenced to the death penalty.
Bagio was in the back of the cruiser at the time of the shooting and was not injured.
After Miktarian's death, Bagio lived out his days with Miktarian's wife, Holly, and their daughter, Thea, until he died from blood cancer in 2012.
The next generation
This year, Holly and Thea decided the time was right to pull the specimen out of cold storage and breed it with their German shepherd, Nala.
After Nala gave birth to six puppies, the Miktarians checked to see if an area police department would be willing to take one of the dogs to serve as a K-9.
Mika was chosen to serve as Streetsboro's next K-9. The Miktarian family kept one of the puppies, and the others went to friends.
Since her arrival, Mika and Nelson have been training at Halo K-9 Training Services.
Doing well in school
Wain said so far, Mika has learned to sit, lay down and perk up her ears. She is working on learning drug scents.
"Playtime is oriented around the drug scents, and she's already learning the fun stuff to find," she said.
As Mika seemed hesitant to demonstrate her knowledge to council, Wain explained that being in a group of people is new to the dog.
"This is a lot," she said, explaining that the group of people at the meeting was probably the largest crowd the dog had encountered.
At 14 weeks, Mika is about 37 pounds "so she's going to be a big girl" Wain said. She said the dog's name was "kind of a nod" to the Miktarian surname, and was chosen by Miktarian's daughter and widow.
Wain said she wanted council to see Mika before she's "fully grown."
"Which by the way it's going, looks to be about next month," she said. "She's going to be a giant. Her dad was about 100 pounds, so on the bigger side."
Reporter Diane Smith can be reached at 330-298-1139 or dsmith@recordpub.com.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: 'Pretty fearless:' K-9 puppy Mika visits Streetsboro City Council
