INVERNESS, Fla. (WFLA) — A 6-year-old German Shepherd will be going back to his days of chasing balls rather than suspects after serving with the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office for over four and a half years.

The sheriff’s office announced the retirement of K-9 Marino on Tuesday. Described as an invaluable member of the team, K-9 Marino will be “sorely missed, but has more than earned a healthy retirement,” said Citrus County K-9 Sergeant David Miller.

“K-9 Marino proudly served the community for almost 5 years and can now enjoy some much-deserved relaxation with his handler,” Miller added.

According to deputies, Marino contributed to countless investigations throughout his career, helping keep the community safe by tracking down wanted suspects and sniffing out tens of thousands of grams of illegal narcotics.

Over the course of his time with the sheriff’s office Marino aided in the seizure of the following amounts of drugs:

• 14,013.7 grams of marijuana
• 2,352.9 grams of cocaine
• 1,168 controlled pills
• 551.69 grams of methamphetamine
• 182.5 grams of fentanyl

Authorities said Marino also helped locate 168 firearms and 281 items of drug paraphernalia. But it wasn’t just narcotics and weapons that he was after. Marino’s keen nose also helped deputies locate over two dozen people — 12 of which were wanted suspects.

As he heads into retirement, Marino will be spending out the rest of his days under the care of his loving handler, the sheriff’s office said.

“Thank you for your service, Marino,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a social media post Tuesday. “Enjoy your retirement, good boy. You’ve more than earned it.”