Editor, Gazette-Journal:

We would like to thank all of the citizens and businesses of the Middle Peninsula for their donations and support last year. In 2010, Zoey the drug-detecting dog made several narcotics finds on the street and Gator has had many tracking deployments. None of this would have been possible without the support from the community.

We regret to inform everyone that Zoey will be retiring this spring due to issues with her hips and other major medical issues that are having a great effect on her work. In preparation for this, Gator and I were sent to a 3½-month K-9 school with Chesterfield PD. We finished in December 2010 and Gator was certified by the Virginia Police Work Dog Association in controlled aggression, agility, obedience, tracking, area search and building search. He is now being trained in narcotics detection and his training should be completed before Zoey retires.

Gator has already had many street deployments since his completion of K-9 Sc...