Police dog denies getaway

The dog even found the gun the suspect had discarded.
BOARDMAN -- When a man decided to stop by Paul's Tire Co. for a bag of chips and a quick holdup, he didn't plan on having his trail followed -- literally.
Robby the dog was on the case with his handler Officer Brian Cionni shortly after the robbery.
A squad car arrived at Paul's Tire on Southern Boulevard shortly after the robbery at about 6:25 p.m. Thursday.
What happened
A clerk gave this account of the robbery:
A man in a black leather jacket and black pants walked in and asked to use a lighter. He left and then came back a moment later, grabbing a bag of chips. He placed the chips on the counter and handed the clerk his money. Then he pulled out a gun, held the barrel just a few inches from her forehead and demanded money. Frightened that the clerk might have set off a silent alarm, the gunman ran out of the store empty-handed, heading north on Southern Boulevard.
When he saw Cionni's squad car heading his way, he ducked between the houses and ran into the back yards.
Cionni's canine partner was ready for work as they approached.
With other officers from Boardman and Youngstown on the scene helping to set up a perimeter, trapping the man inside it, Robby got down to business. Acting on orders, he lay down in a driveway where the suspect had been just minutes earlier, taking in the scent with his long black snout. Cionni gave Robby the command to track, and they headed into the dark back yards together, Cionni holding the leash in one hand and a flashlight in the other. He shouted out that he was coming in with a dog.
"Once the dog came near him, he shouted that he gave up," said Cionni.
The man had already discarded his gun, so was unarmed when Robby found him in some bushes.
"Our dogs are reasonable force dogs," says Cionni, explaining that they are trained to stand in front of a person and bark, holding them in place, and only will grab a suspect who tries to fight or flee. Cionni and another officer handcuffed the suspect.
The two Paul's Tire Co. employees who were on the scene of the crime were brought to the La Belle Avenue block, where they both fingered the man as the perpetrator.
Charged
Police arrested the man they identified as Paul L. Woods of the 500 block of East Avondale Street in Youngstown. Boardman police Capt. Jack Nichols said Woods was charged Friday with aggravated robbery and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday. He's in the Mahoning County Jail.
Cionni says they probably wouldn't have found their man without Robby. And they also wouldn't have found the discarded gun -- an H & amp;R revolver with 8 rounds of ammunition. Robby was able to find it using the suspect's scent, says Cionni.
Robby is a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois, imported from Holland, and looks sort of like a lean German shepherd dog. He has been with the Boardman Police Department since 2002, working with Cionni, who gives Robby commands in Dutch.
"He is literally my best friend," says Cionni. "There are cases where a dog is retrained to work with another officer, but I can't imagine Robby being assigned to somebody else."