{"id":243886,"date":"2026-04-23T22:23:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243886\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T22:23:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:23:19","slug":"flpd-k-9-released-from-hospital-after-successful-surgery-following-on-the-job-shooting-wsvn-7news-miami-news-weather-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/243886\/","title":{"rendered":"FLPD K-9 released from hospital after successful surgery following on-the-job shooting &#8211; WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) &#8211; Fort Lauderdale Police K-9 Officer Appie is headed home after spending a few days at the hospital after being <a href=\"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/news\/local\/broward\/k-9-shot-during-pursuit-in-fort-lauderdale-but-expected-to-survive-suspect-stable-after-bite-from-another-k-9\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">shot in the line of duty.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>With his handler by his side, cheers could be heard from his brothers and sisters in blue as well as the team that helped save his life as Appie walked out of the hospital on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMost people look at them as dogs but he\u2019s one of us, he\u2019s an officer with us, he\u2019s a partner,\u201d said FLPD Seargent Don Geiger.<\/p>\n<p>The 4-year-old Belgian Malinois was shot while taking down a burglary suspect, Saturday night.<\/p>\n<p>According to police, 30-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/news\/local\/broward\/fort-lauderdale-k-9-shot-during-pursuit-of-suspected-burglar-undergoes-surgery-suspect-identified-and-charged\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Christian Bouie<\/a> tried to run from a police perimeter, leading detectives to release two K-9 teams. As Appie made contact with him, Bouie pulled the trigger twice, striking the dog. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWatching that body worn camera footage and that dog, our partner, our brother being shot was very traumatizing for me to watch,\u201d said Geiger.<\/p>\n<p>Appie was rushed to BluePearl Pet Hospital, where he<a href=\"https:\/\/wsvn.com\/news\/local\/broward\/flpd-k-9-on-the-road-to-recovery-after-being-shot-during-pursuit-of-suspected-burglar-911-call-reveals-new-details\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\"> underwent five hours of surgery.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The bullet fractured a bone in his front leg. X-rays displayed the extent of the injury and the work surgeons performed to give him a chance at full recovery.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn inch one direction or another could have been a life ending injury for him,\u201d said Dr. Sagan Woolery, Medical Director at BluePearl Pet Hospital. <\/p>\n<p>Appie has been showing strength and resilience while on duty and as he begin his recovery, which can take three to four months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe goal is that he gets back to work. I think he has a good chance of that, obviously not a guarantee, but dogs are resilient, and as long as his bone heals out OK, I think there\u2019s a really good chance he gets back to doing what he loves,\u201d said surgeon Dr. Kevin Frame.<\/p>\n<p>As Appie was carried into his K-9 cruiser, he received a hero send-off as he begins his healing journey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s one of us and we\u2019re going to stand by him through this whole thing,\u201d said Geiger.<\/p>\n<p>Fort Lauderdale Police Chief William Schultz said whether Appie returns to the force will depend on his recovery progress and his handler. <\/p>\n<p>As for Bouie, officials said more charges may be coming, including possible federal charges as a convicted felon with possession of a firearm. <\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n<p>\tJoin our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) &#8211; Fort Lauderdale Police K-9 Officer Appie is headed home after spending a few&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243887,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-243886","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243886","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243886"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243886\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243886"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243886"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243886"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}