Who doesn’t love a good comeback story? Or a tale involving an adorable dog putting away slimeballs? Monsters, that’s who. (And probably some cats. WILL TENSIONS EVER DROP BETWEEN THOSE TWO PARTIES?)
That brings us to Gia. She’s a shelter dog that’s now a valued member of Manatee County’s K-9 unit. Her gig? Tracking down child predators like a total badass. According to WFLA, Gia’s job involves sniffing around for hard drives, flash drives, and SD cards that may contain child pornography. It’s a role that puts Gia in some exclusive company, seeing as only a handful of dogs have been trained in this field. And yes, the K-9 unit was called in when Subway spokesvillain Jared Fogle was busted. (Like Gia, the canine cop in that operation was also a rescue.)
Gia was initially a stray before getting picked up by the Bishop Animal Shelter. In a move that saved some money and showed confidence in the department’s K-9 unit, the police “hired” and trained Gia to be their personal McGruff. (Without the unpleasantness, of course.) She was adopted last year and is already working on investigations.
“Why do we want to buy a dog trained already, when we can (train) it in house, save the money?” Lt. Richie Cunningham said. “They’re just like any other dog. They’ve just been abandoned in a shelter … When you’re starting to deal with just odor work, you’re using a function of the dog that all dogs, which is the capability of smelling.”
As you can see in the video tucked above, Gia’s been doing a bang-up job and there’s bits of her sniffing at things. If she plays her cards right, we might be one step closer to a Dog City revival. We’re currently 168 steps away, by our count.
(via WFLA)
