Retired UK Police Dog Celebrates Surgery by Saving Freezing Human

Last week a retired police dog, a 12-year-old German shepherd named Bear, was out for his first long walk following surgery when was forced out of retirement. Bear had stumbled upon a missing person, alone and in distress in dense undergrowth.

“The man was confused, wet, and cold, and unable to get up,” according to the nonprofit Thin Blue Paw Foundation's account on Instagram. “The area was dark and very cold, but thanks to RPD Bear, the man received the help he needed from local officers.”

Bear’s owner, former police officer Julia Pope, tells the Guardian that the dog had been celebrating his 12th birthday on the day of the discovery in East Sussex, when he immediately “went into work mode” after sensing the lost individual. 

“He located and alerted us to a vulnerable man,” Pope says. “The man was confused, wet, cold and had fallen over, and was unable to get up unaided. I’m not sure he would have survived the night as it was extremely cold and almost dark at that point.” Anyway they saved the guy.

Like a lot of retirees, Bear has had to deal with health issues of his own. Last summer he needed surgery to treat four herniated discs in his spine. Then in the fall, more surgery: removal of two benign tumours, just two weeks before locating the vulnerable man on his first walk since the operation.

Pope had adopted Bear after the dog retired from the force in 2020. The Thin Blue Paw Foundation, whose mission is to support active and retired police dogs across the UK, has been covering a lot of Bear’s veterinary costs.

The German shepherd is more like semi-retired, as he continues to work as a trauma support dog for police staff.

You can meet all the Thin Blue Paw retirees here. For a few quid you can sponsor one of these very good dogs. 

Photo credit: Thin Blue Paw Foundation via Instagram