FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The Fort Lauderdale Police Department introduced its newest member to the force: a police dog recruited from a local animal shelter.
The 1-year-old Belgian Malinois named Mal now has a new purpose in life: spotting danger, as she will be in charge of detecting bombs.
“It appears you have passed probation, so now you get your badge,” said an officer as he gave Mal’s badge to her owner.
Mal was just seven months old when Fort Lauderdale Police officers found her tied up in a backyard.
“She obviously couldn’t stay tied up where she was, so we took custody of her and put her in the shelter pending any owner identification—no owner showed up,” said Philip Goen, field services manager for Broward County Animal Care.
After nobody came looking for Mal, Officer Dougle Ng-A-Kien stepped up and took the young pup under his wing.
“I always kind of wondered if a shelter dog had what it takes to become an actual police dog,” said Ng-A-Kien. “I ended up fostering her, training her and just kind of kept waiting for something to go wrong.”
But nothing went wrong after weeks of training, and on Thursday, the hard work paid off as Mal was elevated to the police force.
“I told myself I would hold this dog to the same standards I would any other dog that comes from a vendor, and she just aced everything, so she’s awesome,” said Ng-A-Kien.
7News cameras captured Ng-A-Kien running through training drills with Mal.
The best part, Ng-A-Kien says, is that not every day an officer finds a dog like Mal at a shelter.
Officials said the pup has been on duty since July and since then has done a wonderful job.
And while Mal’s work has only just begun, so has her second chance at life.
“She’s my second work dog. My first one was a handful. Now, I’ve gone through the first one and learned what works and what doesn’t. I’ve applied everything that works to her and now it feels easy,” said Ng-A-Kien.
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