It’s a sad week for members of the Winnipeg Police K9 unit as officers laid to rest one of their retired police dogs on Monday.
Cinder, 16, held the honour of being the first female Winnipeg police dog. She was born in 2001 as part of the city police canine breeding program.
She was also the only Canadian police dog featured in “Badge on My Collar 2”, a book of short stories that came out in 2009 about heroic police dogs around the world.
“One of the stories in there was from a break and enter at a restaurant that she ended up tracking the suspect,” said patrol sergeant Rob Tighe, Cinder’s partner for 10 years. “About a year later, officers were investigating a break and enter at a business… and it was the same suspect they found out later, but he had hidden in the ceiling tiles.”
“Without bringing the dog in, there’s a pretty good chance we wouldn’t have found him.”
Cinder retired from active duty in the spring of 2013 and spent her golden years living with Tighe and his family.
“She was a great dog” Tighe tells 680 CJOB, and says Cinder will be greatly missed by everyone.