BOYLE COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18) — A police dog training to be a replacement for the Boyle County Sheriff's Department has died in Florida. The department says Hero experienced complications following a freak accident while training.
Hero was set to replace K-9 Niki who was killed on New Year's Eve in Danville. However, Hero would never make it back to Kentucky.
"Just a freak accident and he was no longer with us, he passed away at the vet," Captain Casey McCoy said.
Hero was in his third week of training to be a police dog at Southern Coast K-9 in Florida when the freak accident occurred. Captain McCoy says the loss of Hero is devastating to the Boyle County Sheriff's Department.
"It'll take anywhere from 6-10 weeks to put all of the training, patrol, drug, tracking, on the dog. And then from there, I'll go down anywhere from 3-6 weeks and work with the dog and certify with the dog," Captain McCoy said.
Southern Coast K-9 says they're devastated over Hero's death.
"They're already in the process of purchasing new dogs for us to view. So we'll take another trip," McCoy noted. "Myself and probably the sheriff will fly down one day, look at dogs and fly back the next day. Or they'll send us videos."
The department estimates the next K-9 will not be trained until June.
