K-9 units may be one of the coolest things you can do as a police officer. Often, you are assigned to a particular dog and then trained alongside them for special tasks. With a dog’s incredible senses, the human-dog pair is something of a wonder.
Whether it’s drug finding or bomb-sniffing, K-9 units can get it done.
In China, K-9 units exist in a similar fashion to the US. The dogs and their partners literally fight crime as a duo until one of them retires. For humans, retirement is celebrated as the end of a long journey. For the dogs, however, something less glamorous was happening.
Officer Bai Yan served with the police department for over 13 years.
Officer Yan had a long tenure as an officer with the department. As part of his training, he often worked with dogs and interacted with the K-9 units on a regular basis. While working with them, he discovered something that hurt his heart.
Officer Yan believed that the retired K-9 dogs were found loving forever homes and gracefully lived out the golden years of their life.
What Officer Yan discovered, however, was rather terrible. For many of the retired K-9 units, the dogs were taken away from their partners and often thrown to the streets or outright euthanized with no care for looking for a family.
When he realized this, his heart broke.
The sad reality that these dogs had given the best years of their life and were rewarded with abandonment and death was too much. Making himself resolute, he knew that he needed to do something to rectify the situation.
Officer Yan devoted his life to caring for these dogs.
Investing his own savings, Officer Yan poured $150,000 of his own money into a plan to help the dogs in need. The grand idea was to set up a retirement facility for dogs! This retirement center would attempt to find a forever home for the retired dogs and, in the meantime, care for their needs.
The plan seemed to work!
With a center set up in China’s Zhejiang Province, Officer Yan started bringing in the dogs who needed help. As of 2017, Officer Yan has saved and rescued 26 dogs through his home! The average age of the dogs is 10+ years and they get just the care they need. ]
Even though they are retired, Officer Yan still works with them!
A dog loves to have a job to do. For these four-legged friends, running through some old drills and going on walks with Yan is probably the best part of their day. It keeps them exercised and mentally alert!
Running around and active, these dogs are living their best life.
While retirement for many is dull, these dogs are having an absolute blast! Whether it’s running a course or jumping through hoops, they get the love and care they need in order to live happy and healthy lives. Officer Yan has really sacrificed a lot for these animals to live the life they now lead.
Check out the incredible video below!
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