Retired Stratford police dog, Jack, in need of support after surgery

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After eight years of protecting and serving the people of Stratford, St. Marys and other local communities, Jack, a retired police dog, now needs a little community support of his own.

Just six months after the Stratford police dog retired and his handler, Const. Jackie Lange, took him home for some well-deserved rest and relaxation, Jack began showing signs of being unwell.

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“I just started noticing little things were changing. He was starting to lose a little bit of weight. He was starting to drink a lot of water – a lot more than normal – and there were just little things that were happening,” Lange said.

“Then he started to drastically lose weight, so that became a concern and he actually started puking. Something was going on.”

While his Stratford veterinarians weren’t initially able to determine what was wrong and sent him home with some medication, the dog soon took a turn for the worse and ended up at an emergency care in London, where veterinarians found an obstruction in his intestines that was causing a litany of other issues in his body.

Since that emergency veterinarian wasn’t equipped to provide the care Jack needed, staff there began calling around to find one who could take him, but to no avail. Lange says she felt she owed it to him to seek help.

“Jack literally protected me,” she said. “He essentially saved my life, and I don’t even want to think what could have happened if he wasn’t by my side when people thought they could do harm to me. He did his job and he protected me.”

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It wasn’t until Lange reached out to Stacey Talbot, a retired RCMP officer and founding president of Ned’s Wish, which supports retired police dogs and their handlers, that she was able to get Jack to an emergency veterinary clinic in Toronto, where he underwent surgery to clear his bowel obstruction.

“As soon as you start walking into those emergency clinics, the dollars just start racking up and you have to be able to put your money down before your dog gets to the back of the clinic,” Talbot said. “Jack is a very special dog. Of course we were going to do everything in our power to step up and make sure he got the treatment and the surgery he deserved.”

Throughout the ordeal, Talbot told Lange not to worry about the cost of Jack’s veterinary care, which reached $8,500, since Ned’s Wish would cover a significant chunk of the bill.

Most police departments, especially smaller ones like Stratford, don’t offer retirement benefits to police dogs, so the cost of their care after their service is left to their owners to cover, Talbot and Lange said. While Lange said she didn’t think twice about adopting Jack when he retired, she never expected the cost of his care could get so high, so quickly.

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To help Lange pay for Jack’s medical costs, Ned’s Wish launched an online fundraiser. As of Friday it had raised $3,870 toward its $8,000 goal.

“(Police dogs) don’t know what they’re signing up for, but I knew what I was signing up for when I said I wanted to be a canine handler and I got this dog,” Lange said. “We owe it to him just to provide the best care and give him a retirement where he can be a dog and he can just play and be happy and not have the added stress of work.”

After a successful surgery last Tuesday, Jack is now back at home with a cone on his head, and ready to enjoy the rest of his life with Lange and their family.

For more information about Ned’s Wish and the services it provides, visit nedswish.com.

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