Saturday, June 10, 2006

Way to go Taz.

Taz, an injured police dog is on the road to rehab thanks to the foks at UC Davis VMTH.
It was Sunday, April 16, and Sacramento Police Officer Hans Merten had just started his shift at 6:30 a.m. when they received reports of an armed man breaking into a car in the Oak Park area. Once a perimeter was set up, Merten and Taz began searching back yards for the suspect.

The only way into one yard was over a 6-foot-tall chain-link fence. As they were trained, Merten lifted Taz onto his shoulders and launched the dog over the fence. But Taz's feet got caught and he landed on his side - on concrete.

“He lets out a little bit of a whimper, but then he gets up and searches the yard,” Merten said. They went to work the next day and the extent of his injury didn't show up until that night.

“He got out of the car and his legs went limp. He couldn't move anymore,” Merten said.

Later, at the veterinarian's office, the severity of his dog's injury became clear.

“It was pretty hard to find out that he'll never work again and have a hard time walking. He's my partner. I spend more time with him than my wife,” Merten said.

1 comment:

Katy Grimes said...

Amazing animals, aren' they? I have a police dog dropout and even he's amazing. A bit Goofy too. Got him in West Sac... Yolo Co. produces some extraordinary animals! (Fetching Jen: Gustav, the Legal German (Shepherd) Immigrant)