Tale of a T-Bone

Photo of a Police K-9 very similar to the one in this story (photo by wspca.com)

I often think of funny stories from my time as a police cadet, police officer and court worker and I just thought of one I think I'll write about here. 

Once, while on patrol late at night, we got a call of a burglar alarm going off at a local grocery store, which was closed for the night.  As several units, myself included, headed that way, we were reminded of our new K-9 unit that was also on patrol and available to us for calls such as this.  As a dog lover I was very excited about the possibility of seeing one of these beautiful German Shepherds in action.  I had only watched them train, but had yet to be on a call where I could observe their skills.  As I headed to the call, I could imagine the bad guys being dragged from the building, in total submission, by one of our four-legged officers. 

I pulled up to take my place outside the store and within a few minutes our K-9 showed up.  The exterior of the store was secured and the K-9 handler, a veteran officer, got out with the dog and approached the front of the store.  It was interesting---the handler gave clear and loud instructions in both English and Spanish through a bullhorn aimed within the front doors of the store, telling anyone who was in the store to come out with their hands up or a dog was going to be released into the building.  Interestingly, to the K-9 she spoke German, as he had been trained in Germany by German handlers.  While this all seemed very complicated, everything appeared to be progressing as planned.  After a few minutes of waiting, the dog was released into the store and disappeared toward the back, nose to the ground.  I could imagine that the dog was tracking all the scents of people who had passed through the aisles, trying to pick out the "newest" scent, possibly following it into some cubbyhole or hiding place that we, as officers, might easily overlook.  So imagine my surprise when we all saw the dog trotting happily to the front of the store, tail wagging, with a large package in his mouth.  Upon further inspection, the package turned out to be t-bone steaks!  Guess he found a nice dinner in the meat freezers in the back!

If I remember right, no burglar was found in the store that night, and I believe the alarm was triggered accidentally.  I am not sure what became of the steak, although I'm sure it did NOT go to the dog....to his credit though, he did go on to a very distinguished career with the police department---and I think this first stumble was not repeated afterwards.  I'll be the first to tell you that the sight and scent of a good meal is enough to throw me off my game though!