TBI Announces K9 Zeus’ Retirement

TENNESSEE– The TBI’s first ever Electronic Storage Detection (ESD) K9, Zeus, is retiring after five years of service.

Zeus was born in Michigan, but lived out his puppy months in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area.  He was raised by Paws with a Cause and was on his way to becoming an assistant for people with disabilities or PTSD.  When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, demand for assistant dogs decreased and Zeus was put on a new career path as an ESD K-9.  Zeus was trained by Todd Jordan of Jordan Detection K-9 in Indianapolis, Indiana and made his debut at the TBI as a 2-year-old. 

Zeus dedicated his career to sniffing out electronic storage devices like hard drives, flash drives, and micro-SD cards, some of which were less than a millimeter thick. Often those held vital evidence, especially in child exploitation cases.  When he wasn’t doing that, Zeus provided comfort for his coworkers during high-stress situations, and he reduced trauma for victims and witnesses.

“Having the opportunity to work with Electronic Storage Detection Canine Zeus has been such a rewarding part of my career. Not only has Zeus dedicated the last five years to combatting child exploitation, violent crime, complex financial crime, and human trafficking through his detection efforts, Zeus is so often a bright light in otherwise dark surroundings for many victims and witnesses to those crimes,” said his partner Special Agent Derek Miller. “Thanks to his abilities, Zeus and I have had the fortune of assisting on searches all over the United States, and I am proud of his efforts to ensure that we devote our best resources to the safety of others. Joining him in his unending desire to locate electronic devices and bring joy to others has been an honor, and I’m proud of the time that I spent with Zeus as the partner by my side.” Zeus will be retiring from service on July 11th, 2025. Up until now, he has only been fed as a reward for his work.  Going forward he will be allowed to eat out of a normal dog bowl.  He will reside, full time, with his Special Agent partner Derek, Derek’s wife, and their two kids in West Tennessee where he will live out his life as a beloved pet.

Zeus’s legacy will live on well past his active-duty time and we are confident the example he set has paved the way for the program to see continued success for years to come. 

Zeus is one of four K9 agents that work with Special Agent partners. We have more information about our other working dogs on our website: https://www.tn.gov/tbi/divisions/criminal-investigation-division/tbis-k9-agents.html

###