Category: Dogs With Jobs

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Police Dog Who Helped Track A Child Taken At Knifepoint Wins The 2024 American Humane Hero Dog Award

From helping locate an elderly dementia patient to finding a seven-year-old child taken at knifepoint, K9 Bo proves that he is worthy of this year’s “American Hero Dog” title.

On November 08, the American Humane announced police dog Bo as the winner of the 14th annual American Humane Hero Dog Awards.

Dr. Robin Ganzert, President and CEO of American Humane said, “We are so excited to name Bo as American Humane’s latest Hero Dog, a distinction that is well-deserved for him and his handler David.”

“In a short time, Bo and David have done extraordinary work. As members of the Gastonia Police Department, the duo has worked tirelessly and saved many lives thanks to Bo’s courage and top-notch scent tracking skills. It’s these types of incredible stories about perseverance and dedication that this award aims to spotlight.”

According to the American Humane Hero Dog Awards website, K9 Bo is a 17-month-old Bloodhound with the Gastonia Police Department.

He has began his incredible journey with the Police Department in April 2023. And he underwent rigorous training before he began working as a police dog in October 2023.

After he began his career, K9 Bo quickly proved that his skills were invaluable when he located an elderly dementia patient and an 11-year-old autistic child who had gone missing.

K9 Bo 2024 American Hero Dog Winner
Photo Credit: herodogawards.org

“On a particularly cold January night in 2024, Bo showcased his extraordinary abilities by tracking a missing elderly patient over miles and through harsh conditions, ultimately finding them safe,” the American Humane reveals.

Time and time again, Bo proves that he has extraordinary skills and despite heavy scent contamination, he can still track down robbery suspects.

And while those were amazing achievements, those were not Bo’s most notable cases. The American Humane shares Bo’s “most touching moment” came in May of this year when he tracked and found a seven-year-old child who had been taken at knifepoint.

The American Humane Hero Dog Awards website wrote, “Bo’s incredible work continues to bring joy and hope, making him a true hero and an inspiring presence in the Gastonia Police Department.”

The American Humane Hero Dog Awards is an annual nationwide competition that searches for and recognizes America’s Hero dogs in five categories: Therapy Dogs; Service and Guide Dogs; Military Dogs; Law Enforcement and First Responder Dogs; and Shelter Dogs.

After announcing the 25 nominees in September, the competitive public voting began, which helped narrow them to five finalists – one for each category.

The four other finalists include: Dayo (Therapy Dog Category), Sampson (Service and Guide/Hearing Dog Category), K9 Niki (Military Category), Penny (Emerging Hero/Shelter Dog Category).

The American Humane reveals that Bo, along with the other four finalists, will be honored at the 14th Annual American Humane Hero Dog Awards® and Gala in Palm Beach on January 08, 2025.

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This University Marching Band Has A ‘Golden’ Member Stealing The Show – A Service Dog

The University of Northern Iowa (UNI) marching band, The Panther Marching Band, has a cute and ‘Golden’ member stealing the show – Winnie the Golden Retriever, a service dog to a UNI sophomore.

In an interview with KCRG, Winnie’s hooman and UNI sophomore Gabi Riessen said, “I’m part of the marching band, so that means she is, too.”

Winnie, a Golden Retriever, is Riessen’s service dog. In a UNI article, Riessen revealed her relationship with Winnie and how she ended up in the marching band with Winnie.

Riessen is a transfer majoring in elementary education from Denison, Iowa. From her previous school, she was “met with obstacles” to participate in band and theater because she has a service dog.

In the article, Riessen reveals that she chose to transfer to UNI because two of her friends attended the school. And because she hopes to get the full college experience, with Winnie by her side, at UNI.

“One of my best friends, Ren — she’s on the color guard team, and she told me about how much she loved it and how amazing Director Justin Mertz is,” said Riessen.

“So she gave me his email, and I reached out to him to see if being in the band with my dog could even be a possibility, and we met and talked about it. I think he’s more excited to have a dog in the band than I am.”

Today, Winnie is part of the Panther Marching Band. She marches with Riessen and stays by her side in the frontline.

Riessen even reveals, “Honestly, I think she’s a better marcher than me. She’s just really good at adapting to any situation I put her in.”

Also reveals that Winnie loves the attention she gets as a marching band member. Riessen reveals, “There’s so many people watching her, and she eats it up.”

However, before being a Panther Marching Band member, Winnie is, first and foremost, a service dog to Reissen.

As a service dog, Winnie helps Riessen manage her postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) – a chronic disorder that causes problem in a person’s autonomic nervous system.

Riessen explains POTS in simple terms saying, “For me, it means that I pass out randomly without warning. Like my heart rate just fluctuates more than most people.”

Winnie is trained to pick up on changes in Riessen that indicates a fainting spell. She will then alert Riessen of an upcoming fainting spell, allowing the UNI sophomore to get to a safe spot to avoid hurting herself. She will then lie beside Riessen and protect her.

Riessen said Winnie provides her with a “sense of normalcy”. “Winnie has made it where I can be like a normal person again,” said Riessen.

“I can do band, because she’ll let me know if I’m okay, and I can go to my classes. Before her, we didn’t know if college was going to be an option.”

And while service dogs cannot be pet during their “work hours”, Winnie is different. Riessen reveals that she does not mind when people pet Winnie, giving back the sense of normalcy that the pooch has been providing her.

“If we’re not doing anything, I’ll let them pet her because she deserves to be a dog and to have fun because I would hate for her to just be so structured that she misses out on that,” she said.

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Man Asks Roommate To Move Out Because Of His Emotional Support Dog

A man is going viral on the famous Reddit community, “Am I The A**hole? (AITA)” after sharing his dilemma about telling his roommate to move out because of his emotional support dog.

In the 26-year-old man’s Reddit post, he shares that he has been roommates with a guy, he referred to as ‘Jake’ in the post, for about two years.

The man shares that Jake has been a decent roommate and they get along quite well, not until recently.

“Jake has struggled with anxiety for a while, and earlier this year, he got an emotional support dog, a small terrier mix,” The anonymous 26-year-old explains. “I was fine with it at first, even though I’m not a dog person, because I wanted to be supportive.”

But here’s where it gets bad – “this dog has turned my life upside down” the man admits.

Why, you might ask? Well, the man reveals that the dog is a very badly behaved dog. “It barks constantly when Jake isn’t home, chews on furniture, and has accidents all over the place,” the man explains.

The man said he had tried talking to Jake about the problem and has also offered a few solutions for Jake to correct the dog’s behavior.

“He’s always apologetic, but nothing really changes,” the man writes.

Furthermore, when presented with the options to correct the dog’s behavior, “Jake claims he can’t afford it.”

Man holding his dog
AJR_photo / Shutterstock.com

The issue has gotten so bad that the man dreaded coming home after a long day at work. He said, “I dread coming home because I know I’ll be dealing with the dog’s mess and noise.”

“I work long hours and really value my peace and quiet when I’m off, but that’s impossible now,” the man said.

So, the man addresses the elephant in the room with two choices that he thinks would solve both his and Jake’s problem: move out and find a new place or get rid of the dog.

However, Jake didn’t like both options, and got really upset with the man. “[He] said the dog is essential for his mental health, which I understand, but I didn’t sign up to live with a poorly behaved dog.”

The man then reveals that after asking Jake to move out or get rid of the dog, their relationship has been “super tense”.

He proceeds to say that Jake has been calling him heartless and is punishing him for needing support.

On top of that, a few of their mutual friends are siding with Jake, saying that the man should be more understanding since it’s a mental health issue.

However, the man said, “I feel like I’m sacrificing my own well-being here.”

The man now asks the AITA community, “Am I the A**hole?” which the community responded with a big NO.

One Reddit user wrote, “Tell all your friends they are welcome to let him and his poorly trained badly behaved dog move in. His mental health is not more important than yours!”

While another user pointed out the dog’s breed and how people don’t know how to choose the right kind of dog for their lifestyle. “Terriers do bark. They’re high energy and very sensitive if you don’t train them properly, it’s a nightmare,” they wrote.

Another Reddit user also pointed out how irresponsible Jake is as a pet owner. They said, “Jake isn’t being punished for having mental health needs, he’s experiencing to consequences of being an irresponsible pet owner who won’t train his dog.”

What do you guys think?