Former officer adopts K-9 partner after ‘custody battle’ following his resignation

[Sugar Cookie]

@McDanel I never realized that some of these officer k9s a re treated very horribly and are dumped in shelters.

A former police officer in Michigan has been reunited with his best friend, the K-9 officer who was his partner before he resigned, after the two were separated for weeks.

K-9 Tamarack is a service dog that previously trained with the City of Mason, but when her handler, Hayden Wildfong, resigned from the Mason Police Department in January, the city wanted to keep the dog, WILX reports.

Wildfong resigned after an incidentat Mason High School, where the former officer took off his gun belt while exercising in front of students. The city says the weapon was left unattended, and Wildfong was placed on leave. He said he later resigned against his wishes and that he only did so because he was under the impression he would be able to take Tamarack with him.

While there was public backing for Wildfong to keep Tamarack, the city said the former officer’s actions didn’t leave him entitled to the dog.

The decision of where Tamarack would go was in limbo for weeks, but the Ingham County Animal Shelter said Tuesday that the K-9 was surrendered to them. The shelter later announced on social media that it received an adoption application from Wildfong, and the two would soon be reunited.

Ahead of the Wednesday reunion, workers at the shelter said Tamarack had been anxiously waiting for Wildfong to walk through the doors.

'When he finally arrived, seeing them together was priceless. As soon as she spotted Wildfong, Tamarack ran to him, pulling on her leash and causing the shelter worker to drop it. Her tail was wagging the whole time.

“This is one of the best feelings in the world, one of the best days of my life. I’ve put in countless hours of work with this dog, and we can finally close this chapter and move on,” Wildfong said.

Former officer adopts K-9 partner after ‘custody battle’ following his resignation

While there was public backing for the former officer to keep his K-9 partner, the city said his actions didn’t leave him entitled to the dog.

www.azfamily.com

 

[McDanel]

Oh @Sugar Cookie thanks so much for posting this! After today's story, I was thinking about Tamarack, but couldn't remember the state. The officer offered the department $10k for Tamarack, enough to buy a young trained K9, but the chief refused.

 

[Flask]

James Belushi did it first.