Pit Bull becomes Police K9

From Mashable
by Christine Wang

Here's your daily reminder that dogs are amazing creatures.

Leonard, a pit bull who had been put on the euthanasia list due to aggressive behavior, is set to become Ohio's first pit bull police dog.
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According to local ABC news, Leonard was brought to Union County Humane Society where staff members found Leonard's behavior too aggressive for adoption. This meant the next stop for Leonard would be euthanasia. Fortunately, shelter director Jim Alloway — who has a background in working with police dogs — saw potential in Leonard.

"I walked out with a squegee. He ran up and bit it and then he went running through the yard. I knew it was a special characteristic. He wasn't being aggressive. He wanted to play," Alloway told ABC news.

Leonard was sent to be trained by Storm Dog Tactical, an organization that specializes in training dogs for K9 police units. Now that he's been fully trained, he's ready for certification as official police material.

Leonard is set to start his new job this weekend, and we couldn't be more proud.

END ARTICLE

Finally, a positive news article on a pit bull. He's a fine looking chap, too. There was a commenter stating that Leonard's training is "single use" - for narcotics detection only. If true, I wonder if he didn't take to bite work.

 

Here is a link to another article for those interested

http://people.com/pets/pit-bull-becomes-ohio-police-dog/

 

Seen this on FB the other day. I'm thankful for any positive press these dogs can get. I've always thought some of these dog's would excel at this type of work. It also gives them a positive spin on their image which they could really use these days. I'm all for it.

 

I was half expecting this LE K9 to be a blue bully type, seemingly the pit bull du jour filling up the shelters these days. Cool to see a traditional looking dog getting a second shot at life.

Dogs bred for work need a purpose, need exercise, need leadership.