Water baby Axle on road to recovery
Recovery is going swimmingly for brave police dog Axle.
Injured in the line of duty while tracking a burglar in Auckland last month, the 9-year-old german shepherd is padding his way back to health on what is basically a treadmill in an oversized fishtank.
Staff at a Sylvia Park veterinary centre in east Auckland have been working with lovable Axle and his devoted handler Constable Hamish McPhillips to get him back on the beat.
The elite armed offenderstrained dog, one of only four in Auckland, tore a ligament in his hind leg requiring surgery, physiotherapy and hydrotherapy.
Axle has been using a special water-enclosed treadmill to rebuild muscle, strength and coordination to get him fighting fit again for gruelling beat work.
McPhillips said the day after Axle was hurt, he ‘‘could hardly move’’, yet nearly six weeks on, one of his carers said he’s made ‘‘remarkable progress’’.
McPhillips, who Axle has lived and worked with for more than two years, was worried when Axle pulled-up lame on the night shift.
‘‘You don’t know what it is at first, you don’t know if it’s a major, even with his age, he’s not a spring chicken anymore. [Axle’s] mind is really keen to still do police work but his body says otherwise,’’ McPhillips, an 11-year police veteran, said.
Veterinary Specialists Auckland hydrotherapy assistant Hannah Sadler said Axle’s surgical team can take ‘‘huge credit’’ for putting him on the road to recovery. Surgeons spent 90 minutes operating, cutting and realigning one of Axle’s bones around the injured ligament before using internal stitches to close him up.
On Tuesday, after a laser session on Axle’s operated-on hindquarters, Sadler was giving Axle his last 15-minute treadmill session. Treating burly, 36-kilogram Axle is like ‘‘treating an All Black to an average joe,’’ Sadler said. ‘‘He’s made remarkable progress.’’
That probably has something to do with the venison treats McPhillips dangles in front of attentive Axle as he paws the treadmill in anticipation.
The treadmill tank water fills, magnifying Axle’s already formidable proportions, with his paws taking on direwolf size, McPhillips jokes.
‘‘He enjoys the treadmill, but I think he enjoys the cuddles from the [veterinary staff] more.’’
In a few months Axle will retire and go back to living with his original police handler, Senior Constable Tony Feasey.