Maywood police bloodhound Remi died this weekend. She was only 5½ years old.
It was a difficult Father's Day for Officer Chris Nichols.
Remington had given "everything she had, performing beyond anything I could have ever expected," he said.
She was "my best friend through some of the most challenging times of life," Nichols wrote.
Remi was certified in late 2017.
At the time, she and former K-9 Zoey gave Maywood the only two police bloodhounds in Bergen County.
Bloodhounds are the only law enforcement K-9 able to "scent discriminate," meaning they trail one scent, ignoring all others, to its conclusion.
This "makes them extremely useful in situations involving contamination and lengthy time frames," the department wrote when introducing Remi -- who went on to become so popular she had her own Facebook page.
Letting his partner go was the "most painful decision of my life," Nichols said.
"In our arms, at 5:30 [Sunday] morning, she peacefully passed on," he wrote. "There is a hole in our hearts that will never be filled and our family is forever changed.
"We miss her terribly already…"
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