Koton (dog)

Last updated

Koton (identified in other sources as "Kondo" or "K9 Star") (died 1991) was a German Shepherd police dog who was one of the Dog performers to played Jerry Lee in the 1989 movie K-9 with James Belushi. Prior to being in the movie, Koton worked for the Kansas City Police Department as a K-9 officer. During his policing career he was responsible for over 24 felony arrests and in October 1991 located 10 kilograms of cocaine worth more than US$1.2 million. On November 18, 1991, Koton was fatally shot while trying to apprehend a suspect in the murder of a police officer. [1] [2] [3] The Officer Down Memorial Page, which documents American law enforcement officers (including police dogs) who have died in the line of duty, identifies this dog by the name "K9 Star" rather than "Koton," and asserts that he appeared in the movie before his career with the police department. [4]

Contents

Although a trained K-9 officer was one of the dogs featured in the movie, he was not the most prominent; a feature in People magazine [5] identifies the principal dog actor as a West German dog named "Rando." A lengthy Los Angeles Times article from 1988 confirms that Rando was the primary canine performer, although noting that he was assisted by "three stand-ins." [6] Various online articles and trivia sections—for example, a 2017 WhatCulture list about animal celebrities—appear to conflate Rando with one or more of the other dogs who appeared in the film, including Koton, apparently resulting in some biographical confusion.

Filmography

See also

References

  1. ↑ "K-9 | Dog Actors". Archived from the original on 2013-09-18. Retrieved 2014-02-27.
  2. ↑ "Koton - Jerry Lee from K9 Was Shot and Killed While Arresting a Suspect". 21 April 2020.
  3. ↑ Hayes, Monique (25 July 2017). "6 Animal Film Stars With Tragic Histories". WhatCulture.com. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  4. ↑ https://www.odmp.org/k9/1836-k9-star
  5. ↑ "Get Used to It, Cybill—there's a New Shepherd in Hollywood". People. Archived from the original on 25 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Hearne, Vicki (11 December 1988). "The Cruelty Question : How Do They Get a Horse to Flip Flapjacks, an Elephant to Ring for Champagne, a Chimpanzee to Sit Still? Hollywood Animal Trainers Explain Their Side of the Controversy". The Los Angeles Times . Los Angeles: California Times. Retrieved 20 August 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.