K-9 unit dogs get treatment to extend careers thanks to local nonprofit
By Chierstin Roth
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DENVER (KCNC) — K-9 unit police dogs with Colorado’s law enforcement agencies work hard to keep our communities safe. But that also means a lot of wear and tear on their bodies. One group is stepping in to help keep them healthy and prolong their careers.
BOLO is a recently retired police dog with the Denver Sheriff Department, with a background in sniffing out narcotics and cell phones in the city’s jails.
“He exceeded the typical career in length of time,” said Stevan Allen, who runs Sierra Peaks Animal Rehabilitation.
Ten-year-old BOLO, short for be on the lookout, retired in February.
“I didn’t have to retire him because he got injured, which has made his retirement all that much more enjoyable,” said Deputy Michelle Padilla, BOLO’s handler.
BOLO went out on his own terms thanks to the work of Allen.
“My specialty was in orthopedic sports medicine, and, when I started to transition because of fun to work with dogs, I realized very quickly that there wasn’t the same training philosophy in how we treat athletes on the human side,” Allen explained.
Because of his approach to treatment, the length of BOLO’s career was nearly doubled, and he does this work at no cost to the agency through his nonprofit, Friends of Sierra. He now treats nearly a dozen K-9 unit police dogs from departments across the metro and has a waitlist of over 20 police dogs whose handlers want to get into the program.
A combination of laser therapy and cross training helps keep the K-9 unit dogs healthy and prolongs their careers during which they experience constant wear and tear on their joints. Allen says it helps save law enforcement agencies serious cash.
“We tried to calculate what would be the economic savings to a department for every year we could extend the careers,” Allen said. “We determined it was approximately $75,000 per year that we could extend the careers.”
For Deputy Padilla, Allen’s work to keep BOLO healthy both during and after his career is priceless.
“It makes me a little emotional,” Padilla said. “I’m the first female canine handler that our department has had, and now I’m a trainer for our department. He has brought me so far in my career.”
Padilla also shared the many ways BOLO’s has been there during tough times in her personal life.
“I owe everything to him to make him as healthy as possible,” she said.
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