Thomas Howard / The Meridian StarLauderdale County Sheriff's Deputy David Rosenbaum salutes Wednesday after presenting an American flag to Deputy Andy "Ski" Matuszewski in honor of his former K-9 partner, Rex, at the Lauderdale County Courthouse.

Lauderdale County first responders on Wednesday said goodbye to a loyal friend and fellow officer as Rex, a Belgian Malinois who served with the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department, died June 6 of cancer.

Sheriff Billy Sollie said Rex was a faithful partner, a loyal officer and a fierce defender of his partner, Deputy Andy “Ski” Matuszewski. Rex served Lauderdale County well, he said.

“A dog’s life is too short,” he said. “That’s really their only fault.”

Deputy David Rosenbaum, who is also a K-9 handler, said it’s difficult for the public to fully understand the relationship handlers develop with their K-9 partners. The dogs become their best friends and trusted companions, he said. They become family.

“Their sole purpose in life is to make their handler happy because we’re their alpha,” he said. “That’s all they look forward to every day.”

Becoming a K-9 handler changes a law enforcement officer’s life, Rosenbaum said.

Rex joined the sheriff’s department as Deputy Matuszewski’s partner in 2006 as a multi-purpose K-9. He was trained in narcotics, article detection, tracking, apprehension and handler protection. The two partners worked as part of the Interstate Criminal Enforcement Unit and assisted school resource deputies in narcotics searches and classroom demonstrations.

Rex and Matuszewski also worked with neighboring law enforcement to assist them in finding suspects who fled or escapees. They also helped with locating missing persons.

Rosenbaum said every dog has one task it loves to do, and for Rex that was tracking. Throughout his tenure, he said, Rex used his tracking ability to safely locate several missing children and elderly people.

“Rex loved to track. That was his bread and butter,” he said. “There were numerous times in this county, for this community that we had children who were lost and walked off in the woods, and thanks to Rex and Andy, they were safely found and returned home.”

Rex was retired from the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department in 2016 at the age of nine, and he spent the rest of his life living with the Matuszewski family as a loving pet. He died of osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, on June 9, 40 days short of his 15th birthday.

Sollie said June had been a month of tragedy for many in Lauderdale County, and he prayed God would give the community the strength to get through it.

“We all will have that last day. We don’t know when it’s going to be,” he said. “All we can do is hope we’re prepared that when our day comes we can go home and say, ‘Come here, Rex. Job well done Rex. Thank you for taking care of our Ski.’”