FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – The Fort Lauderdale Police Department introduced its newest member to the force: a police dog recruited from a local animal shelter.<\/p>\n
The 1-year-old Belgian Malinois named Mal now has a new purpose in life: spotting danger, as she will be in charge of detecting bombs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt appears you have passed probation, so now you get your badge,\u201d said an officer as he gave Mal\u2019s badge to her owner. <\/p>\n
Mal was just seven months old when Fort Lauderdale Police officers found her tied up in a backyard.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe obviously couldn\u2019t stay tied up where she was, so we took custody of her and put her in the shelter pending any owner identification\u2014no owner showed up,\u201d said Philip Goen, field services manager for Broward County Animal Care.<\/p>\n
After nobody came looking for Mal, Officer Dougle Ng-A-Kien stepped up and took the young pup under his wing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always kind of wondered if a shelter dog had what it takes to become an actual police dog,\u201d said Ng-A-Kien. \u201cI ended up fostering her, training her and just kind of kept waiting for something to go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
But nothing went wrong after weeks of training, and on Thursday, the hard work paid off as Mal was elevated to the police force.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told myself I would hold this dog to the same standards I would any other dog that comes from a vendor, and she just aced everything, so she\u2019s awesome,\u201d said Ng-A-Kien.<\/p>\n
7News cameras captured Ng-A-Kien running through training drills with Mal.<\/p>\n
The best part, Ng-A-Kien says, is that not every day an officer finds a dog like Mal at a shelter.<\/p>\n
Officials said the pup has been on duty since July and since then has done a wonderful job.<\/p>\n
And while Mal\u2019s work has only just begun, so has her second chance at life.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s my second work dog. My first one was a handful. Now, I\u2019ve gone through the first one and learned what works and what doesn\u2019t. I\u2019ve applied everything that works to her and now it feels easy,\u201d said Ng-A-Kien.<\/p>\n
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