An emaciated dog found wandering the streets has been transformed into a police dog in less than a year.
Two-year-old Mally was taken to a shelter in England in October last year after being discovered severely underweight and in poor health. But an incredible turnaround has seen the Belgian Malinois become a service dog after her talents were noticed.
She has now graduated as Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire’s newest police recruit.
Mally was found by a member of the public last autumn, wandering up and down the roads of Slough in Berkshire. She was severely underweight, and the local authorities took her in as a stray.
Investigations revealed that Mally had been tied up to a road sign for several hours in the pouring rain. She somehow, had managed to free herself and began wandering the streets aimlessly.
Mally also had several previous owners in her short life before being abandoned. When no one came forward to claim her during the statutory holding period of one week, Mally was put up for rehoming.
One of the kenneling providers used by the council took Mally in and did some initial rehabilitation work with her—also naming her in the process.
In a happy twist of fate, she was offered to the Ministry of Defense, His Majesty’s Prison Service, and the police for potential rehoming as a service dog. The police immediately noticed Mally’s talents and her impressive assessment performance and took her on to see if she would make the grade as a police dog.
In July, having passed all her tests with flying colors, Mally graduated as a fully-fledged police dog for Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Police and is now working to make the streets safer and tackling crime in the community.
Tory councilor Ishrat Shah, lead member for equalities, public health, and public protection, praised Mally’s journey from the streets to gaining her stripes.
“This is a wonderful story, which shows how a bad start doesn’t have to mean a bad ending,“ she said. ”Things could have been different for Mally as her rehoming prospects looked bleak.
“Having someone take a chance on her and take the time to train her is fantastic. Mally obviously put in the hard work too and is now making her mark in her new job.
“This also shows the efforts made by the council’s resilience and enforcement team, who deal with unclaimed stray or abandoned dogs and other animals, to either find them forever homes or to find a way for them to become successful working animals.”
