Meet Britain’s bravest police dog
that we were a perfect match. Finn is a sensitive dog. He knows what my heart rate is and can smell the hormones that I’m releasing. If I’m relaxed he’s relaxed. Before long I didn’t even have to tell him what to do.”
Their training was put to the test during one of their first shifts together when they had to break up a fight between more than 200 people outside a nightclub. “The first we knew about it was when the bouncers flung open the doors of the nightclub and started running away. There were people on the floor being kicked and punched.
“There was a handful of police officers and Finn, who I’d let off the lead. Despite all the fighting all you could hear was me shouting, ‘Good boy, good boy’ to Finn, which must have sounded bizarre.”
OVER the next six years Finn assisted in more than 300 arrests. Dave says that while 90 per cent of people respect and fear police dogs there is the other 10 per cent who don’t. Unfortunately they came face to face with one such person on that fateful October morning 16 months ago.
A taxi driver had been robbed of his £120 takings. When another taxi firm received a call from a customer saying he needed to be taken to south London but couldn’t pay more than £120 alarm bells started ringing. “Finn and I were sent to knock on the door of the pick-up address,” says Dave.
“We heard some commotion coming from the back of the house and it was clear that someone was making a run for it. That’s when the chase started and Finn was stabbed.”
After arriving at the vet’s a team quickly assessed Finn but they didn’t hold out much hope and Dave was told to say his goodbyes. “Finn was lying there looking so helpless,” he recalls. “His breathing was shallow and strained. I stroked him one last time and told him that I loved him and thanked him for being such a brilliant partner.”
During a four-hour surgery the vet discovered that the knife had missed Finn’s heart by a centimetre but had pierced one of his lungs. They worked around the clock to remove two pieces of his lung and a few days later Dave was able to take him home.
“Seeing Finn shaven and hooked up to machines helping him to breath was incredibly hard but I was just so relieved to hear that I would be able to take him home once he was stable.”
He was put on strict bedrest for six weeks to give him a chance to heal. “I slept downstairs with him so he was never alone. Then after a month the vet gave him the all clear to return to work. Finn is a working dog and loves to be on the job.
“We eased him back in and he responded really well. If anything he was pushing me. He passed his tests and returned to work on December 20.
“I’d always planned to retire him on his eighth birthday and come March 21, 2017, the time felt right. Breaking up the partnership was hard but Finn still lives with me so we still have that great bond. I have a new police dog now called Hero-Diesel named after the French special forces dog killed during the 2015 Paris terrorist attack. “It was hard putting on my uniform and leaving the house without Finn for the first time. To begin with it was really hard for Finn too. He knew the signs that we were about to go to work so it was strange for him to see me leaving with another dog.
“However now when I leave the house at 4.30am Finn just looks at me with pity so I think he’s enjoying his retirement. I’m enjoying building up that bond with Hero-Diesel but she has got some pretty big paws to fill.”
To order Fabulous Finn: The Brave Police Dog Who Was Stabbed And Came Back From The Brink by Dave Wardell and Lynne Barrett-Lee (published by Quercus, £16.99) call the Express Bookshop with your card details on 01872 562 310. Alternatively send a cheque or postal order made payable to The Express Bookshop to: Fab Finn Offer PO Box 200, Falmouth, Cornwall, TR11 4WJ or visit expressbookshop.com UK delivery is free.