(WSVN) - A 3-year-old pit bull rescued from a fighting ring is now being trained to become a drug-sniffing police dog.
The Washington Post reports the dog, named Dallas, was rescued along with 30 other pit bulls from a compound in Ontario, Canada. Rescuers found the dogs constrained by stakes in the ground, and discovered multiple dog fighting items on the property.
Most of the dogs were set to be euthanized, including Dallas, until a Canadian rescue group named Dog Tales fought in court to save them. The group ultimately took 18 of the dogs, sending them to other rescues outside of Ontario due to a pit bull ban in the province.
One rescue, Pit Sisters in Florida, took in 10 of the pit bulls, and enrolled Dallas in their program that matches dogs with prison inmates who then train and care for them.
Upon seeing the dog’s potential to be a police K-9, the rescue contacted the Throw Away Dogs Project, which helps train dogs to become service dogs or police K-9s.
“We knew that his combination of ball drive and his wanting of human praise was the perfect combination to be a police dog,” Pit Sisters founder Jen Deane told The Washington Post.
Dog Tales agreed to cover the expenses for K-9 training, which can cost over $10,000.
Dallas is now training to sniff out narcotics, and will be one of the first pit bulls ever to be rescued from fighting to become a police K-9.
Upon completing his narcotics training, Fox News reports Dallas will join the Honaker Police Department in Virginia.
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