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There were few dry handkerchiefs Friday evening as Berkeley firefighters said their final goodbyes to their loyal partner and best friend. 

Dylan, the department’s search and rescue dog since 1998, was put to sleep last month after battling a degenerative spine condition for the past year. 

“Dylan set the standard for how to do our job,” said Chief Debra Pryor. “He was well groomed, ready for work and never had a hair out of place.” 

While many of the testimonials Friday were tongue-in-cheek, firefighters who knew Dylan, a 10-year-old German Shepherd, came to his memorial with a heavy heart. 

The memorial at Berkeley High’s Little Theater, attended by about 200 people, was identical to services given to deceased human firefighters. A bagpiper led a procession of firefighters to the auditorium. On a table, sat a portrait of Dylan, an American flag, his leash and collar, and pictures of the rescue dog in action. Members of Dylan’s team at Fire Station No. 5 tolled a bell for him and presented his handler Darren Bobrosky, with Dylan’s badge wrapped inside an American flag.  

Most of those in attendance were area firefighters and their friends. Dr. Dennis Hacker, Dylan’s eye doctor, said he would miss his patient and marveled at the number of firefighters at the event, including on duty officers standing at the door waiting for a call. 

“I hope I have this many people at my funeral,” he said. 

“He was a member of our Fire Department,” said Scott McKinney, a Berkeley firefighter explaining why the department chose to give its dog such a regal goodbye. “He’d do his best to do his job just the way we do our best to do our job,” he said. 

“What made Dylan stand out was his desire to do the work,” said Bobrosky, an apparatus operator, who trains search dogs as a hobby. “He loved to search.” 

Bobrosky realized Dylan’s potential and worked to sell former Fire Chief Reginald Garcia and the City Council on making Dylan a member of the team. 

The city had forbidden police dogs for years, so Bobrosky took Dylan to the council to prove he was a different breed. 

“I think the fact that Dylan laid on his rug the whole time really impressed them,” Bobrosky said. The council agreed to accept Dylan so long as Bobrosky paid the costs. Later, the city would pick up the tab for some trainings and veterinarian bills. 

In perhaps his biggest assignment, Dylan was dispatched to Ground Zero shortly after Sept. 11, 2001 to search for possible survivors.  

Dylan didn’t find any survivors among the wreckage as he was trained to do. However, Bobrosky said that if the opportunity had arisen, Dylan would have been up to the task. “It would have been a no brainer,” he said. “He would have treated it like it was just another training session.” 

Bobrosky spent many of his off-days with Dylan practicing search and rescue techniques at rubble yards. In 2002, Dylan was the only dog to find all six victims at his state recertification test, Bobrosky said. 

With few calls for a search and rescue dog, much of Dylan’s duties involved being the department’s ambassador to the community, Bobrosky said. Dylan starred at school assemblies and senior homes, Bobrosky said. He even served as the Grand Marshal in the Solano Stroll. 

He also boosted morale around the firehouse, firefighters said. “Dylan and I had a special rapport,” said Lt. George Fisher, who until last year served as Dylan’s commanding officer. “He’d peek into my room, run in, bite my sheets and growl, and then race out.” 

Fisher said he was the only one who could get the famously well-tempered dog riled up. “I’d whisper in his ear and he’d go wild,” he said. “The guys would all ask what I was saying to him, but I said, ‘It’s between me and the dog.’” 

As his illness, first diagnosed in 2003, progressed to the point that he lost control of his hind legs, Dylan earned admiration for his toughness. “He’d try to drag himself over to the table to be with guys,” recalled Firefighter Paul Cavagnaro. “He didn’t work the last year, but we still loved having him around.” 

Bobrosky said the decision to put Dylan to sleep was the hardest he ever had to make. “He just couldn’t live with the dignity he deserved,” he said.  

Bobrosky is now busy training a possible successor to Dylan. 

Diesel, a three-year-old Rottweiler, has impressed his master with uncanny agility and quickness. If he comes along at the current pace, Bobrosky said, Diesel could be certified in the next 18 months. 

“He’s coming along pretty well,” he said. “But Dylan, he was truly one of a kind.” 

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