Chase Mika

Just saw this one in the news:

http://www.kcra.com/news/16797827/detail.html

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- San Joaquin County police are looking for one of their own that went missing during the Fourth of July festivities.

Authorities said one of San Joaquin County's canine went missing from his handler's home Friday.

The K-9 known as Badjo is a 7-year-old German Sheppard that has served the county for five years.

The deputy K-9 handler said he last saw Badjo at 6:30 p.m. He said he then found him missing from his kennel area at 9:30 p.m. Police said it appears that he jumped over his 6-foot kennel fence during the loud festivities.

The dog is described as a 75-pound, all black German Sheppard, wearing a silver-colored collar. He was last seen in the area of Davis Road and Eight Mile Road in Stockton.

Anyone with information is urged to contact San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office at 209-468-4400.

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Hopefully he's found soon (hopefully he already has been). Although the 4th is over, it's a good reminder for handlers that even though a dog chooses not to climb over kennel walls for year after year, it could be some random year that it happens. Better to be safe and make sure that all outside kennels have roofs on them that are dog-proof. I'm guessing this department will be installing one for the handler now (assuming they get the dog back safely).

I've also heard of this happening with a police k9 during a thunderstorm. The dog had never climbed over the fence, then one storm hit and something different about it and the k9 took off. Fortunately a neighbor was able to catch the dog.

Makes me thankful that my department's standard kennels for handler homes include roofs.