By James Gamble via SWNS
An emaciated dog found wandering the streets has been transformed into a police dog – in less than a year.
Two-year-old Mally was taken to a shelter in October last year after being discovered severely underweight and in poor health.
But an incredible turnaround has seen the Belgian Malinois become a service dog after her talents were noticed.
She has now graduated as Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire police’s newest recruit.
Mally was found by a member of the public last autumn wandering up and down the roads of Slough in Berkshire.
She was taken in by local authorities as a stray and was severely underweight and in a poor state of health.
Further investigations revealed that shortly before roaming the streets she had been tied up to a road sign for several hours in the pouring rain before managing to free herself.
Mally also had several previous owners in her short life prior to being abandoned.
After no one came forward to claim her in the statutory holding period of one week, Mally was put up for rehoming.
One of the kennelling providers used by the council became aware of the dog, took her on and did some initial rehabilitation work – also giving her her name.
In a positive twist of fate, authorities put her forward to the Ministry of Defence, Prison Service and the police for potential rehoming as a service dog.
The police immediately took notice of Mally’s talents and her impressive assessment performance and took her on to see if she would make the grade as a police dog.
Last month, having passed all tests, Mally graduated as a fully-fledged Police Dog for Herts and Beds Police and is now working to make the streets safer and to tackle crime in communities.
Tory councilor Ishrat Shah, lead member for equalities, public health and public protection, praised Mally’s journey from the streets to gaining her stripes.
“This is a wonderful story which shows how a bad start doesn’t have to mean a bad ending,” she said.
“Things could have been different for Mally, as her rehoming prospects looked bleak.
“Having someone take a chance on her and take the time to train her is fantastic.
“Mally obviously put in the hard work too and is now making her mark in her new job.
“This also shows the efforts made by the council’s resilience and enforcement team who deal with unclaimed stray or abandoned dogs and other animals, to either find them forever homes or to find a way for them to become successful working animals.”
