Yet danger is part and parcel of a public safety team member's life. Only a concerted effort and a lot of luck that helped officer Steven Grossi's partner Odin avoid the worse.

"We were tracking robbery suspects, and we ended up going into the woods, and we ended up with him catching his leg in ... I think it was glass, but could have been some type of debris," Grossi recalled, just before the start of the ceremony. "He got an artery cut, and he was bleeding really bad," he said. "When I saw the bleeding - actually Jay Cohen pointed it out to me - I picked him up, carried him to the car - I have a First Aid bag that I keep in my car - I took a compress and pressed it on the wound."

But not even that could stanch the blood, Grossi said, and the two officers and Odin ended up in Bolton Veterinary Hospital, with Cohen driving the car as fast as he could, and Grossi holding his wounded partner, where the doctors were able to stitch up the hole.

"They did wonders for him and got right in there and sewed him right up, and took care of him," Grossi said. "But then they thought he was going to go into shock, [because of the blood loss,] but he pulled through. I was a little nervous, but he's going to be fine." It was only one more day in the life of one of the oldest and more successful K9 units in the state, which made even more appropriate the high praise the mayor and the Council heaped on the team.

And when town council chairman Richard Kehoe read a proclamation extending "sincere congratulations to the Officer/Canine teams John Zavalick and Axel, Stephen Grossi and Odin, and Todd Mona and Primo on their tremendous effort at the K-9 Olympics" and congratulating the entire East Hartford K-9 squad for their hard work and dedication throughout the year, the audience's applause was long, warm, and sincere.

A separate proclamation honored Officer Todd Mona and his K9 partner, Primo, who in their first year of partnership achieved a long list of finds and apprehensions - among them tracking suspects in an armed robbery/kidnapping, tracking a suspect with felony warrants who violently resisted arrest, apprehending suspects involved in the beating of three tow truck operators, tracking suspects in several home burglaries, and even helping Manchester Police tracking down suspects involved in an armed robbery.

The team was honored with the state-wide "Daniel Wasson Memorial Canine Award" that has been established by the Connecticut Police Chiefs Association, and is named after a Milford K9 police officer who fell in the line of duty.

Not all K9 teams are though involved in tracking and apprehension work, and officer David Rhoades presented another valuable member of the police department that e work that plays a very important role in keeping the citizens of Connecticut and and visitors to the state safe: his own partner K9 Charlie Brown, who as a Labrador is particularly apt in sniffing out danger, and as a member of the regional bomb squad recently secured the site where Senator Obama gave his speech in Hartford, during the recent Democratic primaries.

Still, pointed out John Zavalick, "We couldn't do that without a support system," Zavalick explained. "Our families - number one. You know the dogs ruin our houses," he explained to general laughter.

"And we certainly couldn't do it without the support of our K9 unit, and that is run by lieutenant Todd Hanlon, ... who reaches to us all the time: 'Whatever you guys need.'"

During the entire length of the ceremony it was evident how highly the officers of the K9 unit and their four-legged partners were regarded by both town officials and the members of the public that were present, and every council member present offered his or her own praise, all of them drawing a lot of applause.

But it was newly elected state representative Jason Rojas who had a particularly poignant message for the officers.

"When I leave my family, every morning, they can be relatively sure I will be safe in my little air-conditioned office, while officers like you get up every day and go to your jobs, and your families have to worry about you come home at the end of your shifts. I thank you for all of your service."

"You are an outstanding group of men and we thank you from the bottom of our heart," added East Hartford Mayor Melody Currey, expressing the general sentiment in Town Hall Chambers Tuesday night.