Focus on K9 First Aid

The Operational K9 Medical Team teaches students how to handle emergency situations with K9s.IMAGE: OPK9 Medical Team

In October 2023, Iro, a K9 deputy from Fond du Lac County, was shot and suffered serious injuries during a call.

Despite severe injuries and catastrophic blood loss, the police dog left BluePearl Pet Hospital-Fox Valley after a two-week stay and made a full recovery.

The medical treatment the K9 received at the scene played a vital role in making this possible.

“The responding officers did hemorrhage control for the dog after he had been shot and had lost a tremendous amount of blood,” says Lyn Schuh, CVT, operations manager of Operational K9 Medical Team of Wisconsin. “These officers had taken our class and knew how to stop the bleeding and to call fire-EMS to get oxygen. They transported the dog to another facility as soon as they could via their squad car.”

When officers and EMS workers are equipped to treat police K9s on the scene, remarkable recoveries like Iro's can occur. Unfortunately, all too often this help isn’t available on-scene, Schuh says.

Years ago, she remembers a situation when a local fire department contacted her for help with using pet oxygen masks they had received as a gift. “They asked us to come over and review what an animal looks like when they’ve been in a fire and how to give them oxygen at the scene,” she says.

Although the emergency animal hospital she worked for agreed to the training, they began to question the frequency of preventable injuries in service dogs. “We wondered why the officers didn’t know how to prevent these things,” she says. “We discovered that when K9 handlers get paired with a dog and receive training, they get very little first aid training. That’s a huge piece of the puzzle that was missing.”

The hospital started offering this training until it was sold, then the veterinarians and staff who had been providing it created Operational K9 Medical Team of Wisconsin to continue offering it. Today the program offers affordable emergency medical training classes four times a year in different areas of the state.

“Not only do we offer training, but we treat every dog in attendance if there is an injury and we draw blood so we can blood type each K9 and send that information to the emergency hospital in their area,” she says.

Know the Top Police K9 Injuries

The top three injuries police suffer from are heat stroke, a hemorrhagic injury such as a gunshot or knife wound, and foot-related injuries or lacerations.

“Other injuries are related to apprehension of suspects,” Schuh says. “We see a lot of teeth and facial wounds and things like that. Dogs were also suffering from chronic joint injuries from jumping and running; injuries that require non-steroidal inflammatories, stretching and rest.”

Other injuries are common dog ailments, such as ear infections, where the officers would say they didn’t realize that’s why the dog’s ears smelled, or neck lacerations and missing fur because of tight collars, she says.

“We understand that collars must be tight, so they have 100% control over the dogs, but these collars do not need to be on 24/7,” she says. “We teach officers to trim the fur and how to prevent collar-wearing issues from becoming a chronic injury.”

Pay Attention to the Heat

When police dogs are left in vehicles unattended, mechanical failures in air conditioning systems can cause heat-related deaths. However, Schuh adds many dogs also die from heat-related injuries in the field.

“Most of the time these injuries happen in the spring, when it was first getting warm,” “These injuries happen more often on a 60- to 70-degree day than on a 100-degree day because the dogs are not acclimated to the weather.”

To prevent heat injuries, Schuh recommends taking dogs outside on days off, no matter how hot or cold it is, and watching for signs of overheating.

“Some signs include the dog isn’t listening because their brain is sort of shutting down because they are concentrating on panting,” she says. “Panting is the only way a dog has to expire heat. If the ground is hot, the heat comes up through their feet.”

Walking ahead or behind the officer instead of with them, as well as seeking shade, can also indicate heat-related problems.

“We tell people you read your dog every day, when you see these things happening, it should be a tip that they are struggling,” she says. “If they are not listening, looking for shade, panting excessively, their lips are getting red, and they don’t have a lot of saliva, these are all physical cues to look for.”

Schuh reminds handlers to remember every time summer hits that their dog is now an entire year older. “Just because a dog worked well last summer doesn’t mean they will this summer,” she says. “Dogs age just like humans, and as they do, they may have less tolerance for the heat.”

Should heat stroke be discovered, it’s vital to get the dog cooled off. Pour water or ice over the dog and immediately bring it to the closest veterinary hospital. Ischemia, hypoxia, and/or dyspnea in dogs can be eased with supplemental oxygen. Provide fluids with an intravenous catheter. However, use fluids judiciously to avoid fluid overload according to Today’s Veterinary Nurse.com.

Subcutaneous heat sensor technology may help defeat K9 heat injuries, she adds. The University School of Veterinary Medicine is studying a technology that functions like micro-chipping for pets. The difference is that this microchip notifies the handler through a phone app when the dog's temperature goes above 101 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Though it’s not a rectal temperature, which is the dog’s true temperature, subcutaneous temperatures are fairly reliable,” she says. “We are currently trying to get grants to try this technology on a handful of dogs. They are already studying it in border patrol dogs.” 

Train for Blood Loss

Hemorrhaging is also an issue for police K9s that get shot, stabbed or injured on duty.

These dogs should be transported to emergency veterinary care immediately. But before transport, stab or bullet openings should be packed over with bandaging material. This is of paramount importance in chest wounds, where a loss of negative pressure will cause the lungs to collapse, reports “K-9 First Aid Basics.”  

The Wisconsin State legislature passed a bill in 2017 that made it legal for first responders, from police officers and firefighters to EMTs and EMS providers, to treat police K9s. This was needed because the American Veterinary Medical Association says if someone is not a veterinarian, they cannot perform veterinary-related tasks.

“They cannot even treat them under the Good Samaritan Law because that only applies to human medicine,” she says. “We left that legislation very vague, saying you can only treat to the level you are trained at. While the role of an emergency medical volunteer for a volunteer fire department may be limited, they are capable of providing hemorrhagic care or performing CPR.”

If a paramedic with advanced training arrives in an ambulance, they can provide additional medical support. “They can intubate, place intraosseous catheters, give drugs and provide oxygen therapy,” she says.

Also, when a dog is hemorrhaging, it’s important to keep the dogs warm, not cool. Because when they lose blood, their body temperature drops, she says.

A transport law is also needed to determine how to get injured K9s to emergency veterinary care, she adds. The State of Wisconsin, like many other states, has declined to take that on. Schuh says the state operates by the “don’t ask don’t tell policy” for transport.

She explains, “Most privately owned emergency medical providers will transport and just develop a Memorandum of Understanding saying, ‘We will treat canines and take them to wherever they need to go.’”

Besides these things, she says departments must take steps to get vests for their K9s. Many organizations exist for this, including Wisconsin Vest-A-Dog, Brady’s K-9 Fund, and Vested Interest in K9s.

Proper bandaging techniques are covered in the emergency medical training.IMAGE: OPK9 Medical TeamCheck for Foot Injuries

“Dogs are on their feet 24/7 so many injuries happen to their feet,” she says. “They absorb things through their feet, walk through things with their feet. Good foot care also matters.”

The feet are injured by salt in the winter and heat in the summer. When that happens, Schuh says dogs will lick their feet obsessively.

“Nails that are too long, improper bandaging with a bandage that is too tight, lacerations that go unnoticed all cause problems for dogs feet,” she adds, noting officers should pick up all four of their dog’s paws and examine them before and after every shift.

Remember the First Aid Kit

Every K9 handler should carry two first aid kits, according to Schuh.

The larger kit should be in the patrol car. This kit should contain everything they could need in the field, from oxygen masks to bandage materials, over-the-counter drugs to Narcan for fentanyl overdoses, and water bottles.

“This kit would be the size of a large tackle box,’ she says.

Officers also should have a small go-bag style first-aid kit that they can carry with them anywhere. “These Individual First Aid Kits (IFAKs) should be small enough that the officer can carry it on them or clip them to the dog’s vest,” she says. “This kit should have clotting gauze, a chest seal, a needle for needle decompression, bandage material, scissors, and a thermometer.”

All Wisconsin K9 handlers received a large first aid kit and IFAK through a donation from Wisconsin Vest-A-Dog, she adds.

For more information on K9 first aid and to learn more about OPK9 Medical Team visit https://www.opk9ofwi.com/