A dog who spent eight months in a New Jersey shelter has a new career as a police K-9. Arrow, a Belgian Malinois, was even returned to the shelter twice because he wasn’t a good fit, but Deb Bucci, an animal attendant at the Burlington County Animal Shelter saw the potential in the pup, so she didn’t give up on him.
She reached out to the Rescue 22 Foundation, which trains dogs to help disabled veterans. Angela Connor came out to evaluate Arrow and found that he wouldn’t be a good fit for a service dog, but she had something else in mind for him. She explains, “A lot of the behavior that most people would find challenging was actually exactly the behavior we’re looking for to develop into police work.”
After training, Arrow is now working as a K-9 with the Lower Southampton Township police department in Pennsylvania, their first K-9 since the 1960s. Arrow is both a patrol dog and a drug scent dog and his partner, Patrolman Kyle Heasley, says “He’s been a great addition to the department.”
Source: Burlington County Times