St. Thomas K-9 handler is writing a children’s book about Trax

Const. Sean James has a “special bond” with his dog.

“We’ve been together since 2013,” James said. “I’ve been through a lot of hard times, both at work and outside of work. He was an exceptional police dog.”

Trax was the first Police Service Dog (PSD) in the history of the St. Thomas.

He retired in 2017 after a career-ending diagnosis of Gracillis myopathy, which restricts movement and has no cure.

“He actually saved a woman’s life in 2015 or 2016,” James said. “Winter got lost and I think it lasted up to ten hours. He managed to track her down and find her in the woods. He found a lot of drugs and arrested a lot of bad guys, but this is definitely one that makes me proud, because I had no idea where this woman went.”

With stories to tell and knowing how popular Trax was with children, James and a co-worker wrote and illustrated a children’s book. Proceeds go to the Phoenix Canine Initiative, which provides therapy dogs.

‘Tails with Trax’ is a children’s book written by Const. Sean James of the St. Louis Police Service. Thomas. (Source: Amazon)

“I was working in the Criminal Investigation branch when I was diagnosed with PTSD,” said Helaine Hindley, the book’s illustrator. “It became an outlet for me to use art every day to help me on my healing journey.”

On Saturday, James will be at the St. Thomas to read and sign books.

“He will read ‘Trax’s Tails’ to the kids during library story time,” said Samantha Wakefield, corporate communications coordinator at STPS. “We will also be joined by the Phoenix Canine Initiative (PCI), who will have their dogs with us during the story. The library will actually add it to their collection.”

Const. Sean James of the St. Louis Police Service. Thomas reads a page from the children’s book ‘Tails with Trax’ on June 4, 2024. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

James didn’t want to say too much of the story, but said in the book, “Trax’s mom was a police dog in the book and he looked up to her and wanted to achieve that goal in life.”

Tails of Trax quickly sold nearly 1,000 copies worldwide.

However, to raise enough funds to provide a therapy dog, PCI said it needs to sell about 6,500 copies.

James hopes to be able to go into schools and make appearances with the book.

Retired Police Dog Trax’s career stats include seven hits, 18 arrests and four searches for evidence. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

“We have to do a lot of demonstrations visiting nursing homes, nursing homes, schools, daycares,” said James, of the first K-9 unit with STPS. “Immediately, I could tell the K-9 unit was gravitating toward the children. He was very good at bridging that gap, with the police and the kids.”

Since Trax was retired, STPS has a new PSD called Axle.

James brought Trax home as a pet, “He’s 12 years old, so he’s getting up there, but he’s still got a lot of life in him.”