Deputy Julian Chala said he lost his best friend after four-year-old K9 Dundee collapsed in his arms. The German Shepherd had just helped apprehend a fleeing suspect his final assignment in a two-and-a-half-year Lee County Sheriff’s Office career that included 174 deployments and 128 apprehensions.
Dundee and Chala were sent to North Fort Myers shortly after midnight on Sept. 28 after a person fled on foot from a suspicious vehicle. Dundee tracked the person into a wooded area and helped deputies make the apprehension.
The dog collapsed soon afterward. He received immediate medical attention and was transported to BluePearl Pet Hospital, where veterinary professionals continued trying to save him. Dundee died despite those efforts.
Officials found no apparent gunshot or stab wounds. The medical cause remained unknown while necropsy, toxicology and blood-test results were pending. No subsequent finding is available here, leaving the central medical question unresolved.
That uncertainty matters. Acute collapse is an event, not a diagnosis, and it can have multiple causes. Veterinary literature summarized by the American Veterinary Medical Association identifies heart disease, toxicity, gastrointestinal disease, trauma and non-traumatic hemorrhage among leading causes found in one retrospective study of 151 dogs that died suddenly and unexpectedly. Those general findings do not establish what happened to Dundee.
A necropsy can identify or exclude some potential explanations, but it does not guarantee a definitive result. Dr. Erick Mears, an internal-medicine specialist with BluePearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospitals, told the AVMA that postmortem examinations can rule out many possibilities even when they cannot provide a final answer.
A working record beyond suspect apprehension
Dundee’s record documents a sustained operational partnership rather than a single dramatic assignment. Over approximately two and a half years, he deployed 174 times and was responsible for 128 apprehensions.
His work with Chala also extended beyond pursuing suspects. In November 2025, the pair found a missing 81-year-old woman with dementia who had wandered from her home overnight, allowing her to be reunited with her family. The assignment illustrates how a law-enforcement K9 team may be used to locate a vulnerable missing person as well as track someone fleeing deputies.
Those outcomes depended on the working relationship between dog and handler. At Dundee’s memorial, Chala described that relationship in terms of trust rather than ceremony. “He taught me trust in ways I had never trusted anyone before,” the deputy said.
K9 Unit Lt. Brian Walkowiak recalled another part of their training life: Chala had taught Dundee to bark in response to the Spanish command “habla.” It was a small detail, but one rooted in the repeated communication required between a handler and a working dog.
A formal farewell for a police K9
Hundreds of law-enforcement officers from across Florida joined local officials and community members for Dundee’s funeral at Hertz Arena in Estero on Wednesday, Oct. 14. The farewell included remarks from a pastor, the Lee County sheriff, Walkowiak and Chala, along with a gun salute, helicopter air show and flag-folding ceremony.
It was Chala’s first public address about Dundee’s death. He described the dog as his partner, family and best friend, and became overwhelmed while delivering the tribute.
I lost my best friend that night, but I will forever be proud that he left this world doing what he loved, Chala said.
Dundee’s last deployment ended with the suspect apprehended and the dog’s assigned work completed. What caused his collapse remained unanswered a difficult contrast between a documented operational success and a death that veterinary testing had not yet explained.
What’s your dog’s job, official or self-appointed? Tell us in the comments.
By Tom Whitaker — Outdoor magazine editor who has reported on search-and-rescue, herding, field dogs, and working-dog handlers.
