Friday, 26 March 2010 was a special day for DSS Animal Management staff at the Franklin shelter as this story unfolded. A day a few tears were shed and a wonderful outcome for Rocky, a special German Shepherd, and his Air Force handler. Rocky served in the Solomon Islands with his NZ Air Force handler Glen. He then retired and was living with the Glen’s best mate Rob in Foxton. Two years ago Rocky went missing. He ended up being sold by someone to ‘a guy in a pub’ and Rocky came to live in the Franklin area. His new ‘owner’ did not register Rocky or have him checked for a microchip. Then last week he was found wandering by a vet nurse from a local clinic. She picked him up and took him to the vet clinic hoping he would be claimed. Two days later the Franklin Animal Shelter, operated by DSS Animal Management on behalf of the Franklin District Council, was contacted and Rocky was picked up and held at the shelter. Following standard procedure Rocky was scanned for a microchip by our staff and one was found. The chip number was queried in the National Dog Database and Rocky’s legal owner was discovered. Imagine the excitement when our staff called Rob in Foxton. Rob then rang Glen – told him to sit down and then passed on the news ‘They’ve found Rocky’! There were lots of phone calls, exchange of photos and some very excited people in the Air Force and in DSS Animal Management! Glen flew to Auckland from Ohakea Air Force base as soon as he could and on Monday 29 March was reunited with his mate. A happy ending and all because a microchip, the size of a grain of rice, was implanted in Rocky all those years ago.

Each year DSS Animal Management offers FREE dog evaluation, assessment and basic training sessions for dogs and their owners who reside within the Franklin District.

These free training sessions have been introduced to socialise and train dogs with little or no formal training. The aim is to attract dogs exhibiting any behaviour problems and improve communication between dogs and their owners and ultimately reduce dog problems. Our dog trainer assesses each dog in order to gauge their degree of ‘good manners’, obedience and overall standard of training. Owners are given feedback and guidance where necessary.

2009 was the first year this training was offered and was a great success. The free training will be offered again later this year, 2010. Dates for this year will be announced in August or September this year.

BUDDY FRANKLIN SHELTER’S FIRST POLICE DOG (Updated) Buddy is a German Shepherd. He was 18 months old when he came into the shelter. Buddy came in with his mum. Buddy and his mum had a bit of a reputation for going for walks by themselves. While Buddy stayed at the shelter we all noticed that he had a very high ball drive. He liked to play with balls and tug toys. Buddy would not let go of his tug toys and would hold on for a long time. We were told by Buddy’s previous owner that he was a very intelligent dog. Buddy could open and close doors all by himself and liked nothing more than to bring them gifts. With Buddy’s nature and high drive we rang the NZ Police to see if they would like to come and look at Buddy. A trainer from the Police Dog Section came in on a very rainy day to put Buddy to the test. Buddy spent about 30 minutes with the trainer and as you can see by the pictures he was extremely focused. After a phone call to base the trainer decided to take Buddy. They said that he a great grip on the tug toy; this is something which is really important because it helps when they catch the ‘baddies’ Buddy then experienced his first ride in a police car, he was all packed and off to be a police dog. Buddy came to visit us a few times while he was training, his new handler was very happy with him, although Buddy was known to get a little distracted every now and then. In December 2008 Buddy and his handler graduated from Police Dog Training School. Buddy is now a fully operational Police Dog and has already been used in helping to catch a few criminals. We are all very proud of Buddy, now called ‘BUD’ UPDATE: Buddy has now been an operational police dog for 18mths and has been responsible in helping catch many criminals. Buddy and his Police handler pop in from time to time and it is nice to see him doing something that he loves. He still likes to play with his favourite toy.

Meet the 4 Cs - Cleo, Caleb, Cody and Casey.
These guys from us are in the process of being rehomed by the Humane Society

Franklin District Council is asking people for information on the horrific killing of two goats that were taken from their roadside tethers and dragged to their deaths behind vehicles on Saturday night.

This little pup called Cody was dumped on the side of the road with his brother. While Cody’s brother went to the Humane Society he was adopted to a new family through us.

Here are a few photos of Cody with his new mate at Christmas time.

While Duke was in the Franklin shelter he showed some unusual tendencies for a Labrador. We think he may of been imported from Austraila!!