Bruno is at the height of his career. He holds several national championship titles and helps catch bad guys but his retirement plan was a little bleak. That is until now.
"Little things in the department are now being looked at in different ways because the light’s coming to the community about what we are facing out there as police officers, K9 handlers,” Lakeland Police Officer Ted Sealey said.
Lakeland Police department is teaming up with local veterinarians to provide free medical care for K-9’s once they turn in their badges.
“I feel like our K-9 officers once they retire are veterans without benefits and I feel like they deserve and we want them to have some benefits for the service that they gave us,” owner of My Pet’s Animal Hospital, Donna McWilliams said.
McWilliams has opened the doors of her animal hospital to the dogs and so have several other facilities.
It’s great news for officer Ted Sealey who is Bruno’s handler and the proud owner of a retired K-9.
"They’re like your family. Once you work those dogs, and I worked Bodo for six years. You can’t just give them up they’re apart of your family,” said Sealey. “They become a child to you.”
And their care can get expensive.
“It cost me $1,500 to have piece of tubing removed from his stomach that he swallowed during his actual time as a police dog,” said Sealey.
This new program hopes to eliminate some of those costs, so Bruno can retire a happy, healthy dog,
The Lakeland Police Department currently has nine K-9’s on the force. Once they retire all of the dogs will have free health care service provided by several veterinarians in Polk County.