FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — For the last seven years, Kaine, a German Shepherd, has been serving the community as part of the Fort Wayne Police Department’s K9 unit with his partner, Gregory Woods.
Kaine and Gregory made many runs searching for articles, narcotics, and different kinds of apprehensions. Woods says officers who have K9s get called to many cases dealing with high-stress felonies.
After serving since 2018, he is now retired from his work and lives in the Woods family home.
You can now find him lying out in the yard, playing his favorite game of tug of war, or spending time with their family.
“He likes to be interactive, he likes to play,” Gregory said. “He just likes the interaction. You know, he’s retired now. He wants people, he wants us to realize, hey, I’m still here, hang out with me.”
Through all of their time together, Gregory and Kaine have built a special bond.
“I still remember his first apprehension, which was our first night out after we graduated,” Gregory said. “I pulled him back, thinking he was looking for critters, and then again, he jumped back down in there, and the suspect happened to be right there in the river. So we apprehended our first guy on our first night. It’s an awesome bond.”
While serving, Kaine never got to act as a house dog, and now that he is able to, the rest of the family has gotten closer to him.
“Since retirement, it has completely changed the dynamic,” Lisa Woods, Gregory’s wife, said. “So I was very excited about it that we will be able to interact with him a whole lot more, spend more time with him, and do more things with him.”
Although he is retired, Kaine still loves to do some of the same things he did while he was working, like search for articles in their yard.
While retirement has been a transition, the Woods family wants Kaine to experience the life of a house dog and show appreciation for all he has done for them.
“Their life is devoted to that handler and to the community and to serving, just like police officers do,” Lisa said. “We appreciate everything that he does and what he is, what he’s given. Dogs live such a short life, and he spent most of his life working in that capacity, so we want to be able to give everything to him, to show him how much we appreciate what he’s done for us.”
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