A new society for retired police and military service dogs called Ned’s Wish aims to give the proper end-of-career care for heroes with paws.
Ned’s Wish president and retired RCMP officer, Stacy Talbot, said that although she was not a canine handler during her 38 years as a Mountie, she worked with every unit that handled dogs.
“I was able to witness first-hand just how valuable they are to public safety, whether it was general duties, looking for a lost senior or child, and specialize in investigations where they’re finding those small articles of evidence,” she said. “So, they’re finding murder weapons, and later in my career when we have the highest risk calls with armed and barricaded, or hostages, dogs are critical to resolving those calls in the safest manner for everybody out there.”
Talbot said the canines were and still are an invaluable asset for law enforcement when it comes to their versatility. Through her work with dogs, she explained that if a handler can’t keep their dog when they retire, she would take on guardianship
“When I got Ned, thus the name Ned’s Wish, that was in about 2010,” she recalled. “I was always a horse gal, but veterinary medicine had shifted. It’s become so much more advanced that things became quite expensive.”
Pension-less
Due to the strain on police dogs during their time in service, Talbot said that it often leads to hefty vet bills that become too expensive to pay for.
“I had Ned for five years, and over the five-year period he racked up about $50,000 in vet bills from things that happened like a prostatic abscess and amputation of toes from working all the time, jumping in and out of vehicle,” Talbot said. “The toll that these dogs’ bodies take are extreme; so when they retire, they need that support the most (for) that vet care and pain management.”
Since Canadian military and law enforcement agencies are all publicly funded, all dollars are exclusively dedicated to working dogs, with no money dedicated to retired dogs. From this, 90 per cent of all law enforcement and Canadian military do not have the luxury of having dedicated funding for a retired dog.
This eventually led Talbot, alongside friends and family, to bridge that gap through Ned’s Wish.
“It took us a year to work with Canada Revenue Agency to obtain charitable status,” she said. “When we got that on May 1, 2019, we formally launched as a charitable organization. Ned’s Wish is 100 per cent volunteers [and] there’s no paid positions.”
By virtue, Ned’s Wish fundraises money for the retired canines to ensure they receive proper medical care. They also spread awareness on the topic, and take care of any accredited law enforcement dog and Canadian military dogs that served abroad.
“We’ve had 221 dogs registered with our program,” Talbot said.
With the average lifespan of a serving German Shepherd or Belgian Malinois around 13 years old, Talbot said a majority of their lives is dedicated protecting others. Through Ned's Wish it gives them quality of life for when they retire.
Police dogs
According to Talbot, the RCMP and the Winnipeg Police Services are the only two agencies in Canada that specifically breed their own police dogs. After lengthy examination processes, dogs who passed are given to potential handlers.
Due to their nature and training, retired police dogs differ from usual house pets and need specialized care in order to keep them safe and in a proper environment.
“What people think is - ‘Oh they’re so well trained, I would love to have a retired police dog,’ that’s not what they’re necessarily trained for,” she said. “They trained for tracking and detection work, so for your pet at home, you don’t want them jumping on counters, getting into things, and pulling things apart. That’s what these dogs are trained for.”
With five years under their belt, Talbot said she’s grateful for the support from all ends supporting this initiative.
“We may be small, but we have saved a number of dogs lives,” Talbot said.
Meet Forrest
At 104 lbs. and still full of energy, retired police canine Forrest walks around a storm pond in Cochrane with his owner Cathrine Decelles. After a lengthy career with the RCMP, he now suffers spinal degenerative disease.
Forrest originally served with another handler in B.C. before he ended up working with Decelle’s husband after his dog retired.
“He’s worked and served in Cochrane for the rest of his career, [including] the Cochrane area, Didsbury to Nanton, since it is considered the Calgary area,” she said. “May was when he retired this year, and he turns 11 [years old] in November, so he’s had an exceptionally long career working until he was 10-and-a-half.”
Prior to Forrest, Decelles explained that her husband’s police dog, Titan, retired at seven years old and lived for another six and a half years.
“A number of his medical bills were due to his service, he had abscess teeth which were due to criminal apprehension, training, and some of the other things they do with the dog,” she explained. “Pre-Ned’s Wish, we had to foot that bill, and I remember the largest bill we paid was $10,000. And that comes directly out of our pocket.”
Post-Ned’s Wish, Decelles said that Forrest can visit the vet without any worries.
“Recently Forrest has gastroenteritis, so we took him into the vet, we got the vet receipt, forwarded it off to Ned’s Wish, and they paid it in full within 24 hours,” she said.
Since Ned’s Wish, Decelles said it’s been game-changing in terms of taking care of retired police dogs.
“Not only do we have the medical expenses covered, but we also have access to a volunteer veterinarian if we have any questions,” Decelles said. “And the awareness that they’re bringing to these animals, like a lot of people don’t realize that the animals are out there apprehending criminals, finding missing people and children, article and evidence searches, all of those things.
“And yet, what do they do when they retire? So, we have this resource group that we can call when we need it.”
Since her husband works with police dogs, Decelles added that they also help the group in the event a retired dog is transported to a new home.
Decelles said she would like to give a special thanks to Ned’s Wish and all the work that they do. Without their support, it would make taking care of retired police dogs very difficult from a financial standpoint.
“We can’t give these dogs up at the end of their career, they’ve lived with our family the entire time,” Decelles said. “We can’t just pass them up, so we got to make sure they’re happy and healthy through their retirement.”
