A somber mood settled over the Annabel Taylor Chapel where Sabre, Cornell’s first police dog, was honored by the Cornell University Police Department and members of the Cornell and Ithaca community Wednesday in a memorial service. Sabre died last month at the age of 12.

After years of serving the campus, a nimble member of the Cornell Police Department and Cornell’s first police dog, Sabre, died on Jan. 5. The 12-year-old dog, which suffered from a chronic infection before its death, left behind a legacy for other trained canines to come.

Prof. John Hermanson discusses the relationship of evolution and domestication in different animals.

Whether fetching tennis balls on the Arts Quad, strolling down the streets of Collegetown or laying beside the gorges, canines have become a noticeable part of campus life. But who takes care of these dogs? Where do they live? And what happens to them after their owners graduate?

One dog, Meeko, lives with his owner Tom Hudson ’11 and several of his fraternity brothers.

“Two of us originally planned to take care of him, but then more people just got involved and helped taking him for walks,” Hudson said. “Meeko lives in a house with all the other brothers, we’ve had some trouble training him, but he’s a really sociable dog.”