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Last Ride for Police Dog Before Being Put Down
NBC Connecticut ^

Posted on 01/05/2012 7:18:00 PM PST by matt04

Police officers consider K-9 partners members of the force.

So it was with great sadness that the West Hartford Police Department learned one of its own, Kora, a police dog, was being put down Monday. The 11-year-old was retired over the summer, after serving in the Department since 2003 with her handler, Officer Eric Rocheleau, according to Lt. David Dubiel.

Kora had developed cancerous tumors common with old age, and had to be euthanized Monday, Dubiel said. But Kora got one last chance at being a police dog.

Rocheleau took Kora to the vet Monday, and after some tests, was told the best thing for the dog was to put her down. Before that happened, the officers at the West Hartford Police Department agreed to take Kora for a final ride in a police cruiser.

"I was met at the vet with my old cruiser, and we were able to give Kora one last ride in her old car," Rocheleau told the Hartford Courant. "Both K-9 handlers, the K-9 unit supervisor, the sergeant on duty and animal control were there to give me support."

Kora also spent one last day at the police department, to give all of the officers a chance to say goodbye.

In her 9 years of service, Kora was responsible for uncovering 205 pounds of marijuana, 458 bags of heroin, 41 grams of cocaine, and 117 arrests. Rocheleau and Kora received a statewide award for their service in 2005.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: Connecticut
KEYWORDS: leo; westhartford; workingdogs
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To: Joe 6-pack

precious...


21 posted on 01/05/2012 7:50:30 PM PST by floralamiss ("The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage." Thucydides)
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To: Viking2002

Awww... I’m sorry, Viking2002. I’m sure you made her life very happy.


22 posted on 01/05/2012 7:54:36 PM PST by floralamiss ("The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage." Thucydides)
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To: Grunthor

I’m so sorry, Grunthor. R.I.P. for your dear pug, too.


23 posted on 01/05/2012 7:57:27 PM PST by floralamiss ("The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage." Thucydides)
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To: cripplecreek

Awww... so sweet!


24 posted on 01/05/2012 7:58:59 PM PST by floralamiss ("The secret of happiness is freedom. The secret of freedom is courage." Thucydides)
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To: shhrubbery!

What a sweet face :(


25 posted on 01/05/2012 7:59:48 PM PST by Darnright ("I don't trust liberals, I trust conservatives." - Lucius Annaeus Seneca)
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To: matt04

Put him down? Why? Just leave him on the steps of the police station with no collar. I’m sure a dozen cops would come by in 5 minutes more than willing to shoot him.

On a serious note, I live Shepherds and love my big boy to death. Really great breed of dogs. There are no bad dogs, but I really love German Shepherds.


26 posted on 01/05/2012 8:03:17 PM PST by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (Repealing Obamacare is the ONLY GOAL.)
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To: cripplecreek

Bowser! Great name, for a great dog. I’ve heard nothing but neat stories about Jack Russels. My brother has had 4 and the newest puppy is something else. He’s a digger and caved a dirt bank in on himself. We were there and scooped the dirt away.


27 posted on 01/05/2012 8:04:00 PM PST by unkus (Silence Is Consent)
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To: shhrubbery!

Fine looking Mutt.


28 posted on 01/05/2012 8:04:22 PM PST by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (Repealing Obamacare is the ONLY GOAL.)
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To: Grunthor

Yes it hurts....i’ve had to put down 4 dogs in my lifetime, but it’s a blessing that we can give them this small gift in return for the years of love, devotion, and pure joy that they gave us.


29 posted on 01/05/2012 8:05:18 PM PST by ken5050 (Mitt Romney: Eddie Haskell runs for president..)
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To: Grunthor

My condolences. What a heartbreaker anytime, but especially at Christmas. God bless you and your precious pet.


30 posted on 01/05/2012 8:09:00 PM PST by oneamericanvoice (Support freedom! Support the troops! Surrender is not an option!)
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To: unkus
This summer he figured out where all those frogs were coming from and now he goes right to the source.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.usImage Hosted by ImageShack.us
31 posted on 01/05/2012 8:09:29 PM PST by cripplecreek (Stand with courage or shut up and do as you're told.)
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To: matt04

Unless the animal is in pain or having a hard time, I don’t put them down. Very sad. God bless this great dog and the family.


32 posted on 01/05/2012 8:11:31 PM PST by oneamericanvoice (Support freedom! Support the troops! Surrender is not an option!)
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To: cripplecreek

In this current world, it’s probably for the dogs’ sakes that they don’t live that long. They’d be wondering after awhile why they were supposed to like us so much, if they lived too long.

Now, after we’re made perfect by God and the animals come back, that’s going to be a far better time for all of us.


33 posted on 01/05/2012 8:11:34 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: floralamiss
The first three pics were taken when she was terminal, but we didn't have conclusive lab work back at the time. She was done in by amelatonic melanoma that the vets (who earned their DVM's with cereal box barcodes, no doubt) misdiagnosed as a Southern tier respiratory allergy in the base of her throat. It was only after she went into renal failure did they run the bloodwork they should have done months earlier. She passed away the night I came home from the hospital after abdominal surgery - three days before she was to start radiation treatments at Auburn U.'s veterinarian sciences department. By then, the cancer had metastasized into such a final stage and gone to her brain, she literally shut down before our eyes on the lab table, one organ at a time. I was so high on dilaudid and hydrocodone at the time, I'd have ripped the windows out of their frames over the travesty, had I enough strength or muscle control to do so. The grieving process has not been a normal one for me, and continues to this day. I am a very angry man, for many reasons. And this is one of them.

"But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away, for his name is Obama."

34 posted on 01/05/2012 8:11:46 PM PST by Viking2002 (My regular avatar has resumed after the holiday festivities. But it's not yet sober. And it's armed.)
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To: matt04

Personally I think they should’ve adopted her out to a family that’d go for the latest chemo and surgery treatments. They don’t aim to cure but they aim to extend quality of life. She may have had 1-2 years, they have some really great drugs that work very well with a lot of animal cancers.


35 posted on 01/05/2012 8:13:42 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (I'd like to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.)
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To: cripplecreek

Selective breeding and science may be of considerable help with dog longevity, but not likely in our lifetimes.

Despite lots of videos of dogs that “talk”, it may actually be possible to evolve dogs enough so that they are able to communicate in a basic way.

That is, a smart dog can understand some 300 human words in context. One dog that was given intense training managed to distinguish 1,000 words. That is a very good level of “input”.

So what is needed is a genetic modification to their vocal area, so they might be able to enunciate perhaps a dozen words in context. This would be an incredible leap to real communication between people and dogs.

One possibility is found in a gene called FOXP2. Most mammals share it, but humans have a unique mutation of it that aids our speech in several ways.

While human FOXP2 has been experimentally transplanted into the DNA of a mouse, the question remains about what would happen if it was put into different breeds of dogs, especially those who already have some features conducive to speech.

Again, nothing too complicated. Perhaps with training they could learn to enunciate a dozen single vowel words, in context, enough so that a human can distinguish them.

Which raises the thought problem: if your dog could only speak 12 words, what words would you want them to be able to say?


36 posted on 01/05/2012 8:15:04 PM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy
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To: cripplecreek

One of my favorite episodes.


37 posted on 01/05/2012 8:15:34 PM PST by berdie
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To: cripplecreek

Oh, man. Great pics. He’s the best!


38 posted on 01/05/2012 8:16:23 PM PST by unkus (Silence Is Consent)
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To: matt04; cripplecreek; Grunthor; shhrubbery!; Joe 6-pack; OldGoatCPO; Forty-Niner; Viking2002; ...

Oh matt saw that today and just so sad.

Our Westie, 12 yrs old, was diagnosed with Lymphoma last week. She is our best friend and loyal lover of all things, always.
We have selected chemotherapy to start next week, only because if don’t do something she is sure to die and we want to have tried to save her. It was and is a struggle on what to do and when and we have thought long, daily, and hard.
Just praying all the time that little dear one will be allowed to have a few more year’s.
Pray


39 posted on 01/05/2012 8:16:38 PM PST by mojo114 (Pray for our military)
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To: matt04

God bless your precious soul Kora. I hope to meet you in Heaven one day.


40 posted on 01/05/2012 8:20:34 PM PST by Shadowstrike (Be polite, Be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.)
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