Police Dog Recovers After Getting Stabbed in the Head and Chest

A brave little police dog miraculously recovered after getting stabbed by an offender.

Finn, canine partner of Police Chief Dave Wardell, was rushed to the hospital after suffering near-fatal wounds on his head and chest sustained while attacking a man suspected of robbery and having a gun. Fortunately, Finn survived.

“He was taking down an offender as he has done hundreds of times, and in the blink of an eye everything changed,” Wardell told BBC. “Finn was stabbed trying to protect me.”

The pair responded to a man suspected of robbing a taxi driver at gunpoint on October 5 in Stevenage, a town in Hertfordshire, England. At the scene, Wardell was stabbed in the hand.

“The bond between a handler and his dogs is second to none. Seeing my partner stabbed was one of the worst days of my life,” said Wardell.

Four hours of emergency surgery by veterinarians later, Finn’s life was saved. And four days following he returned home, a home he shares with the Wardell family and a sniffer dog, a Cocker Spaniel named Pearl.

Pearl shares a kennel with Finn and is thrilled he is okay and back home, because he was missed a ton.

“He can’t understand why he can’t go out and work,” said Wardell on Finn’s recovery away from the police force.

Finn’s stitches are to be removed in a week, but his return to work could be several weeks. Wardell says he is doing well though, being his “cheeky” self as per usual.

The assailant, a 16-year-old boy, was arrested and charged with assaulting an officer with criminal damage.

A petition has now been set up to support police animals in getting protection that “reflects their status if assaulted in the line of duty.”

It’s called Finn’s Law and has over 60,000 signatures since put up on October 9.