text: Story highlights The Marietta City Council on Thursday will decide on a retired K-9 officer's request to keep his dog 
   
   The dog is property under state law and must be auctioned 
   
   GoFundMe page has raised over $70,000 in support of Matthew Hickey, the retired officer 
   
   (CNN) The retired Marietta, Ohio, police officer who has been fighting to keep his K-9 partner will have to decide whether he'll take an auxiliary position on the force so he can keep his beloved Ajax, and to prevent the city from having to auction off the German shepherd. 
   
   Matthew Hickey retired from the Marietta Police Department last month due to an injury. The former K-9 officer told CNN his original understanding was that he could keep Ajax as long as he paid the value of the working dog. Hickey said Ajax was valued between $3,500 and $4,000. 
   
   "Ajax is a family member; he's one of my children," Hickey told CNN affiliate WBNS 
   
   According to Ohio law, though, a police dog must be treated as city property and sold at auction if its handler leaves the force and another handler is not available. Ajax can likely work for another five or six years, according to the police statement. 
   
   The city council will consider options for Hickey and Ajax during a meeting Thursday. On Wednesday, Mayor Joe Matthews told CNN that the Marietta City Council will officially offer Hickey the auxiliary officer position on Thursday. 
   
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target: – Retired Ohio police officer Matt Hickey will get to keep his K9 partner, Ajax, but he "escalated the situation by being disingenuous," his former boss says, per the New York Daily News. Marietta Police Chief Rodney Hupp says Hickey—who announced he would have to bid on his "family member" after retiring from the force last week—has been appointed an auxiliary officer, meaning Ajax can remain with him. Hupp calls the move "a win-win for everyone," but he says it was in the works since Thursday, when Hickey told the media he feared losing his dog. While police were bound by a confidentiality agreement, "you could have stopped this train wreck, simply by saying, 'They're working on a solution,'" Hupp told Hickey at a Monday press conference. "I'm ashamed of you," Hickey responded from the crowd. "You're making up small lies." Hupp admits there's "bad blood," but that won't affect Hickey's status as an auxiliary officer or his ability to keep Ajax. Some $69,000 raised to help Hickey pay for the dog will now be given to charities that work with police dogs, reports CNN.