Cop Puts A Rescued Pit Bull In His Cruiser After She Officially Joins Force

A Pit Bull who arrived at the Kirby Animal Shelter in Texas after being hit in the head with a hammer is now helping to keep the streets of Poughkeepsie, New York, safe! After Kiah’s owner was arrested for animal cruelty, Kiah was rescued by Animal Farm Foundation, who recognized she had the right stuff to make a good K9. She joined a K9 program where she soon impressed her trainers, who said she was sociable and easy to train.

A few months later, she’s now officially a Rookie K9 Sniffer Dog at the Poughkeepsie Police Department.

Kiah’s handler, Officer Justin Bruzgul, says “(If the dog has) the energy to use her nose and want to please her handler and do that working job, it doesn’t matter what breed it is.”

Kiah will be sniffing out drugs and people as part of her new job.

The Kirby Animal Shelter wrote on Facebook, “So proud of our Kiah! She [is] setting the bar high by proving that pit bulls can make our neighborhoods safer, not more dangerous… Way to go Kiah!”

Pupdate:

After almost 10 years of dedicated service to the community, Kiah got sick in 2023 and Bruzgul shared sad the sad news:

“We have some unfortunate news regarding our girl Kiah. About a week ago she developed a cough and wasn’t her usual self. We took her to the vet and started antibiotics for pneumonia. Kiah wasn’t responding to the treatment and there appeared to be lung nodules on her chest X-ray. We scheduled an appointment with a specialist for 2/14. However Kiah started to not eat or drink and was not doing well. We took her to an emergency vet hospital yesterday. We were told the worst news possible… lung cancer. we left Kiah there to get some IV fluids and oxygen therapy as well as some pain management, with the intention of picking her up and taking her home for palliative care. We got the call this morning she passed away peacefully in her sleep. RIP our girl, the best K9 partner ever.”

“She was my partner from 2015 until now and faithfully served her community, always excited to jump in the police car and get to work. She loved the water and was amazing at agility tasks (she could balance on just about anything) she loved kids and chewing on squeaking tennis balls. She was a kind and gentle soul, taken too quickly from us.”

E.O.W. February 13, 2023

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