Wichita ? Officer Allie is retiring after a long and productive law enforcement career. Her bosses hope to find a replacement that’s equally skilled at tracking bad guys, finding hidden evidence and greeting hundreds of school kids with a wildly wagging tail.

The 9-year-old Labrador retriever is one of several that will soon retire from the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks canine program.

The agency is asking the public to donate dogs to be paired with two game wardens. Both will soon spend about two weeks in Indiana undergoing special training.

“We’re looking for Labs around 1 year old and with good drive,” said Jason Barker, a game warden who helped start the program in 2003. “A lot of times that’s the dog somebody wants to give up because the dog’s always digging or chewing. It’s that drive that makes them trainable and good in the field.”

Game warden Brian Hanzlick, Allie’s handler, said she came from a Russell County home.

“She chewed up everything in sight and was really high-strung,” he said. “She just needed a job and she’s done it pretty well.”

The department made a similar request for dogs in 2003. The result was a starting canine force of five dogs. Financial contributions were also solicited to help fund the program and are still accepted.

Wardens say it has been well worth the time, money and dogs donated.

“They’re a great tool in the field that have helped us make hundreds of cases,” Hanzlick said. “They can do in a few minutes what might take us hours or days if we can even do it. I joke that if Allie could drive I’d never have to leave the house.”

Barker said dogs and wardens will learn to work together on tracking, wildlife detection and evidence recovery during their training in Indiana.

The two game wardens chosen for the program were picked from about seven applicants. Three dogs will accompany them to Indiana. The department will find a good home for the one not used, or return it to its owner.

Once trained, the dogs will be near-constant companions of the game wardens, riding in special compartments in the cabs of their KDWP trucks.