slip down into hot water<\/a>, estimated to be about 85C, as the ground beneath her gave way.<\/p>\n\u201cI moved in and grabbed her … the poor thing was so panicked the first thing she did was grip on by my neck.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johannsen then fell in the water as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt didn\u2019t feel too hot at first, whether it was adrenaline or the protective pants I was wearing, then all of a sudden it hit and I thought \u2018this is really bloody hot\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the struggle, Teo also gripped on to Johannsen\u2019s hand, creating puncture wounds.<\/p>\n
At one point, he had Teo in a bear hug and rolled them both out.<\/p>\n
Eventually, they became free of the scalding waters. Other police staff nearby lifted Teo by her protective harness and placed her in cooler waters nearby.<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t looking good. They needed to get help for Teo fast but they were in dense bush about 200m from any exit point.<\/p>\n
Depsite Johannsen\u2019s own leg burns and hand injuries, he flung Teo over his shoulder and carried her out.<\/p>\n
Teo suffered serious burns, particularly across her hindquarters. They rushed her to Central City Vets in Rotorua where veterinarian Dr Russell Cowie and his team provided initial burn management.<\/p>\n
![\"Constable]()
Constable Adam Johannsen and Police Commissioner Richard Chambers visit police dog Teo, who is recovering from injuries after falling into geothermal water. Photo \/ NZ Police<\/p>\n
A decision was made to airlift Teo immediately to the Massey University Campus in Palmerston North, where national police dog co-ordinating veterinarian Dr Vicki Erceg took over her specialist care.<\/p>\n
Teo was only two months out from retiring following a more than seven-year career in the police.<\/p>\n
Although she is now on the road to a full recovery, she spent three weeks at the vets before being allowed home \u2013 Johannsen stayed by her side late at night and early in the morning during those crucial early days. <\/p>\n
Teo still has visible scars around her legs and her fur hasn\u2019t fully grown back yet.<\/p>\n
Johannsen described her as \u201cquite a spectacular police dog\u201d that had a \u201cremarkable\u201d career.<\/p>\n
But Teo is now the Johannsen family pet and quite happily lies in the lounge of their home in retirement mode.<\/p>\n
Johannsen, who has been a police officer for 13 years and a dog handler for eight years, is based in Auckland.<\/p>\n
He said Dean\u2019s Tokoroa-based family sent messages of support and thanks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are such a lovely family and they were hurting too.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he was sorry they weren\u2019t able to help them find Dean.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you call a policeman for help, you do whatever you can to relieve the family of what they\u2019re going through.\u201d<\/p>\n
Expert help<\/p>\n
Erceg said it was a privilege to be able to help care for Teo. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe dedicated care from all of the veterinary teams involved certainly helped to save her life.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"]()
Constable Adam Johannsen and Teo with the Massey Vet Team.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the very first time I saw Teo I could see her strength of character. She is always a strong, determined and loyal lass.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said her loyalty to Johannsen was well placed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe protective boots that Adam had diligently placed that day certainly saved her paws which was very significant for her healing. Also him pulling her out of the water and getting her to veterinary care quickly certainly helped save her.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erceg said Teo\u2019s burns were extensive and severe. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe was extremely brave for all of her many treatments and procedures, and she was so trusting which was lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Erceg said they became very attached to her during her long say.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdam was there caring for her with us too. It was all an incredible team effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
New dog teams for Rotorua<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Rotorua\u2019s police dog section is to get some new faces.<\/p>\n
A graduation ceremony was held at the Dog Training Centre in Trentham in December, and among those graduating were two new staff for Rotorua.<\/p>\n
Senior Constable Stu Palmer and his third operational dog called Ridge are heading back to the Bay of Plenty police district to Rotorua.<\/p>\n
Palmer\u2019s been policing for 14 years and has worked in both Taup\u014d and Rotorua in public safety and road policing roles.<\/p>\n
Another team bound for Rotorua is Senior Constable Chrissy Lunt and detector dog Vegas.<\/p>\n
Lunt\u2019s career spans an impressive 30 years with 15 of them as a qualified detective.<\/p>\n
Kelly Makiha<\/a> is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Such is the connection. Search and Rescue dog Teo and her handler, Senior Constable Adam. Photo \/ NZ…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[28527,9219,2355,78,111,43,139,69,90,675,1881,1314,1327,63974,61,376],"class_list":["post-198642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-burned","tag-dog","tag-geothermal","tag-in","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-police","tag-recovery","tag-road","tag-rotorua","tag-teo","tag-to","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}