A St. Petersburg clinic donated a custom prosthetic to a retired Florida police dog who lost his left front leg in the line of duty.<\/p>\n
With the artificial limb, Ace can now run and jump again, according to WTVT<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here’s what to know<\/p>\n Polk County Sheriff’s K9 Ace received the artificial limb from Westcoast Brace and Limb.<\/p>\n Three weeks after receiving the limb, he was moving independently, no longer relying on his handler and a walking harness for support.<\/p>\n Ace was shot by an armed, wanted suspect in early August.<\/p>\n The suspect died in a shootout with deputies, while Ace’s injuries required veterinarians to remove his left front leg and shoulder blade.<\/p>\n His handler, Deputy Natalie Oestreich, asked the clinic about a custom pet prosthetic while searching for ways to help him recover. By then, the sheriff’s office had retired Ace following his amputation.<\/p>\n Polk County Animal Control’s Dr. Kerry Jackson also reached out to the clinic to help arrange the limb, according to WTVT.<\/p>\n Few facilities offer made-to-order animal prosthetics.<\/p>\n More background<\/p>\n Practitioners at the company’s St. Petersburg location took a body mold to fit the device correctly.<\/p>\n The company then fabricated the limb at its main lab in Tampa, near the University of South Florida. Danielle Tobler, a certified prosthetist-orthotist at the St. Petersburg location, explained that the work requires dedicated technicians.<\/p>\n “We donated it for them. So, our time and then our main fabrication lab is in Tampa over by USF. That’s where we did all the fabrication. We have a couple of technicians that specifically work on our pet orthotics and prosthetics,” Tobler told WTVT.<\/p>\n Clinic staff already knew Ace’s story when they agreed to donate both the device and their time, providing the department with the custom limb at no cost.<\/p>\n What’s being done?<\/p>\n Practitioners guided Ace through hops inside the clinic to help him learn to bear weight on the prosthetic, and staff noted his sweet disposition during the visit.<\/p>\n Jackson said Oestreich initially held Ace’s harness while he walked, but he eventually progressed to walking independently, running, and jumping with the artificial limb.<\/p>\n The clinic planned a follow-up visit to check the fit and determine whether the limb’s alignment needed adjustment. Staff members also made custom shirts to encourage Ace as he recovered.<\/p>\n Oestreich will keep Ace at home with her throughout his retirement while choosing a new K9 partner.<\/p>\n “It isn’t something he’ll wear all the time. It’s just for those walks and different activities,” Tobler explained.<\/p>\n “We’re having them come back in a couple weeks to kind of just check the fit, see if we have to adjust the alignment things like that.”<\/p>\n Where can I learn more?<\/p>\n Other dogs have also needed help getting back on their feet after serious injuries. These stories follow dogs overcoming injuries and a K9 recognized for earthquake rescues.<\/p>\n \u2022 A Los Angeles K9 found three people alive<\/a> after an earthquake, becoming a Hero Dog semifinalist.<\/p>\n \u2022 An Oklahoma French bulldog stood and walked<\/a> two days after rescue from starvation and gunshot injuries.<\/p>\n \u2022 A Wisconsin dog survived nine gunshot wounds<\/a> before finding a family and a couch.<\/p>\n Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A St. Petersburg clinic donated a custom prosthetic to a retired Florida police dog who lost his left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443813,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-443812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443812","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=443812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443812\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}