Sergeant AuziaI run a 501c3 non-profit animal rescue, GreenePets Foster Network, Inc. You never know what is going to happen next when you are in rescue, and because of this, one fine day in August (before the NASCAR race), I found myself taking a Police K9 into GreenePets.
Whoda thunk it? That life for a police trained K9 would turn sour enough to land the girl in a give-a-way situation. Tales of "Black Beauty"? I was determined to get this girl back to work. After all, she had spent years schooling and working before winding up in my hands.
I found out as much about her as I could and then went to work trying to find a department that needed a K9. One would think that this would be a no brainer. Here I am with a valuable already trained, experienced working dog, and there are dozens of police departments, airports, and boarder patrols needing just what I have.
Well, first thing I ran up against was her age. She is seven this year. According to many units, that is not young. Also, I couldn't prove the story I had about her abilities.
After contacting many police K9 units nationwide, I was finally fortunate enough to get through to someone with authority, the Chief of the Bristol Police Department. This man, Chief Blaine Wade actually gave me the courtesy of listening to my story. Not only did he listen to my story, but he had his senior K9 officer PSO Robert Caudill contact me and come out to take a look at my Auzia.
This is not to say that this look-see was 'love at first sight', officer Caudill, was rather sceptical to start with, and I could see his point, I mean, just how could life cause a "real" trained police dog to wind up in a small animal rescue in East Tennessee?
Officer Caudill put her through her paces in obedience. I must say that Auzia was a little rusty, so I covered for her reminding officer Caudill that she had not been in the hands of a trained K9 officer for a couple of years, but rusty or not, I thought she shined, (anything stronger than a rescuer's love?).
Officer Caudill did admit that he was shocked and surprised with what he was seeing. He made a phone call to an officer of the PD that Auzia had been deployed with for her original four years of working the streets. The officer he spoke with remembered her and said she was an ace with her Drug work.
Eureka! I was ecstatic, I knew my Auzia had not been leading me astray, she is a working girl, and all she wanted was to get back to work. Officer Caudill assured me that even though Auzia may not be placed in patrol, he would at least find her an appropriate home for me.
You see, there was one small issue in placing Auzia. This girl is trained in "bite work", therefore she could not be placed just anywhere with just any old person who would love to own a "Mal".
Due to Officer Caudill's work schedule for the coming weeks, I agreed to keep Auzia for him at our kennel until he was able to test her further.
Testing day finally arrived. Officer Caudill came down from Bristol with Keith, another K9 officer from Kingsport. They put Auzia through her paces in obedience and were fairly pleased with her performance. Though, as young men in great shape, they discussed things like "she needs to do some hill running to get rid of that fat", and she needs workouts to get her responses where they should be. Actually I thought her performance was far greater than the first trial a few weeks prior, which I think had reminded Auzia that she was not a 'lady of leisure' but a true working dog.
Then came the biggie test. The officers had stashed drugs and ran a couple of trials with Auzia. They were amazed and thrilled at the way she responded. This part of her life was still at maximum levels of performance.
Long story short, there were emergency meetings at two police departments that day. Auzia was accepted as a recruit by the Bristol Police Department in Tennessee, and she would become Officer Caudill's partner as a Drug Detection dog. Sergeant Auzia will again be certified in October for Drug Detection and back to work full time as Officer Caudill's partner.
Reflecting back on all that transpired, it seemed like I had Auzia in my care for a great deal of time. However, God's hand was definately in all of this. I kept searching for a job for Auzia, and Captain Wade listened to me. Things were happening at the Bristol Police Department that would make the possibility of the donation of a trained K9 a blessing.
Officer Caudill's partner K9 Sergeant Rico is now 13, and has to retire this year. Officer Caudill is to be promoted in his own position with the K9 unit, and Sergeant Rico's retirement would be taking a trained K9 out of Bristol's unit. Police department budgets are tight and trained K9's are horribly expensive. Sargent Rico's retirement was creating a loss to this police department. Bristol Police Department's willingness to adopt Auzia solved many problems for all.
In this placement, Auzia was granted a fantastic bonus. She now resides with Officer Caudill's retired Bomb Detection K9, Rico and has a new little sister K9 Niko.
Auzia's family has gone from nobody, as she was a cast off K9, to a new fantastic partner/handler, PSO Robert Caudill, a big brother, Sergeant Rico, Retired, and a little sister, Niko. Best of all, starting in October, a full time job once again. I am sure her career with the Bristol Police Department will be grand and glorious, and the rest of her days will be a dream come true for our Auzia.
