K9 Boni with Precinct 1 Constable’s Office has died

HOUSTON — A K-9 who protected the people of Harris County for six years has died, Precinct 1 Constable Alan Rosen said on Tuesday.  

Boni died after a recent surgery to repair a twisted spleen. 

The 8-year-old Belgian Malinois was an agile and athletic police dog.  

“He was tough, brave and serious,” Rosen said. “We are grateful for all he did to protect the people of Harris County and are reminded of the crucial role such highly trained dogs have in public safety.”

Boni and handler Deputy JP Hernandez made hundreds of arrests and drug seizures after the K-9 joined the force in 2019. Hernandez described one of their more memorable cases that started when he pulled over a “well-dressed couple” because they didn’t have a front license plate.

“They looked like the perfect pair of law-abiding citizens, but had an array of illegal drugs hidden in a fake can of Pringles and a fake can of Sprite,” Hernandez said. “If not for Boni, the drugs would likely have never been found.”

Boni’s first capture was a suspect who crashed in northeast Harris County during a chase by deputies working with the U.S. Marshal Service. The man ran from his vehicle, but Boni found him hiding under a wheelbarrow in a backyard.

“You could not ask for a more perfect dog. I never had to tell him to do anything more than once,” Hernandez said. “He was very serious about his work. He did his job.”

Boni went through basic training in Hungary before undergoing specialized training in Texas. He obeyed commands in Hungarian and English and could walk backwards on command, Precinct 1 said.

Boni’s name came from a Hungarian word for good or kind. 

“It is kind of hard; you lose your best friend – a big part of me is gone,” Hernandez said. “I was blessed to have him.”

Boni was one of eight K-9s at Constable Precinct One and the second to be lost while still on active duty.

Constable Precinct 1’s K-9 Elmo died in 2021 due to a heart defect.