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.
precious...
Awww... I’m sorry, Viking2002. I’m sure you made her life very happy.
I’m so sorry, Grunthor. R.I.P. for your dear pug, too.
Awww... so sweet!
What a sweet face :(
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.
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.
Fine looking Mutt.
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.
My condolences. What a heartbreaker anytime, but especially at Christmas. God bless you and your precious pet.
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.
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.
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.
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?
One of my favorite episodes.
Oh, man. Great pics. He’s the best!
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
God bless your precious soul Kora. I hope to meet you in Heaven one day.
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