Rebel Shelter Pup Gets Second Chance as Narcotics Canine
Bear seemed doomed. The two-year-old black Labrador retriever had become a nuisance in the Alabama shelter where he lived. Rambunctious and mischievous, Bear could hardly sit still.
That's when Dustin Vance of the Advance Canine Academy in Scottsville stepped in, adopting the troublemaker and training him to become a drug-sniffing canine. In Bear's first week on the job, the pooch discovered a half-pound bag of marijuana.
It is extremly rare that shelter dogs evolve into police dogs. Most law-enforcement pooches are imported from Slovakia or Germany.
"This is the first one we've run across in a long time,” said Vance. “I'd love to get every one from the shelter. It takes a very, very special dog that can do this kind of work."
Police dogs must be playful, social and extremely aggressive. “The dogs I'm interested in are the dogs that drive you absolutely crazy in your house,” explained Vance. “[Dogs] that constantly want you to play with them. Those are the dogs I want to see."
Vance rescued Bear from the shelter at the right time too, said Lorri Hare, executive director of the Bowling Green-Warren County Humane Society, to the Bowling Green Daily News.
"A lot of times, dogs with that much energy unfortunately end up being aggressive in a shelter because they're not getting exercise like they need," she said. "He was starting to channel his energy in a bad way."
"For a dog that came from the humane society to be able to be an asset to whatever community he goes to is incredible," said Vance.
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