K9 Jake, a Belgian Malinois who served in the Washington County Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit since 2016, has retired. The Washington County Board of Commissioners has approved the transfer of ownership to Jake’s longtime handler, Deputy Chris Majeski.

“Jake was recently diagnosed with bone cancer, so he was unable to work anymore and that was one of the driving factors in his retirement, as well as age,” said Washington County Sgt. Ty Jacobson.

Over their nine and a half years together, Majeski and Jake built a reputation as one of the unit’s top-performing teams.

“Chris and Jake were instrumental in our K9 unit,” Jacobson said. “I would say they were together one of the hardest-working K9 teams we had in our unit. They’ve taken a lot of illegal narcotics off the street.”

The two were also part of the department’s national champion K9 team, winning first place in the team competition at the United States Police Canine Association Inc. championships in both 2023 and 2024.

As Jake steps away from service, Deputy Ross Peterson and his K-9 partner, Mack, who have been training since May, will take over Majeski and Jake’s role within the unit.