A surprisingly emotional story to kick off the work week involving a law enforcement officer making a career move, and his police dog who he’s bonded with over the past few years (story HERE).

The handler is moving from the Brown County Sheriff’s office to a different agency and would like the dog to retire with him. He’s not alone. Far from it. He’s got over 2400 petition signatures and $20,000 to buy the dog from the Brown County Sheriff’s office.

It’s not going to happen according to the sheriff. The dog is still in it’s “prime” and played a pivotal role in bomb detection during the NFL Draft.

With the information we have, the dog should stay where it is. Here’s why.

The sheriff worked awfully hard to make sure we knew it was a bomb sniffing dog and the process of training a replacement. We don’t know how many other dogs we have that can do what this dog does. This allows safety to become an issue.

At first listen, I was on the other side. I thought mostly of the $20,000 offer. We’re not rich. And this would appear to be an opportunity to trade up for a younger dog, while allowing this current canine the chance to retire peacefully. If we’re not taking the money, there is also the chance that it’s a precedent issue or simply a matter of following the rules. If that’s the case, this battle needs to be fought in the chambers of our elected officials. That is how real change is accomplished.

The bottom line is that if the sheriff’s office isn’t allowing us to have a happy ending for the dog and it’s handler there has to be a good reason. We love our first responders. We love dogs. Let’s hope it all works out.