ohmidog!

A  police dog named Serge died of “heat exhaustion” last week after an alarm system failed to alert his handler that the air conditioner had malfunctioned in the car he’d been left in, police in Camden, N.J., said Monday.

“Most of the electrics went out. And the air conditioner, instead of cooling the vehicle, was pulling all the heat from the engine. [The dog] probably went in like 10 minutes,” said Joe Rodriguez, supervising trainer at the Atlantic County K-9 Academy in Egg Harbor Township, told the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Apparently, both the air conditioner and heat alarm failed, Rodriguez said. Rodriguez who trained the German shepherd and his handler, said the alarm is designed to set off a siren and roll down the vehicle’s windows when the temperature inside rises too high.

The dog was found dead in the vehicle, parked outside police headquarters in downtown Camden. The temperature that day, Thursday, reached a high of 92 degrees.

“We still have much more investigating to do before we determine causes and issue conclusions,” Police Chief Scott Thomson said.

The death of police dogs from heat exhaustion — often while they are waiting in cars — has been an all-too frequent occurence across the country this summer.

“It has been a problem with some law enforcement due to malfunctioning equipment, some of it due to human error,” said Russell Hess, national director of the U.S. Police Canine Association. “We usually hear about it every summer.”

Rodriguez, who trains K-9 officers from all over New Jersey, said he recommends that handlers check their dogs every 20 minutes — even when their vehicles are equipped with heat alarms.

“They’re like anything else. They can be hit or miss,” he said. “You get a false sense of security.”

Serge, not quite two-years-old, joined the Camden police force in January.

“He had already captured a bank robbery suspect and had assisted in several other apprehensions as well,” said Chief Thomson.

Sixteen cats and  nine dogs found themselves homeless again after a fire broke out at the Animal Rescue Foundation office in Terryville, Conn.

All 25 animals in the shelter escaped unharmed.

Authorities said the fire started when a malfunctioning light fixture melted, dripping plastic onto bedding materials for the animals. Shelter staff were in the building, preparing for a Sunday’s bake sale fundraiser when someone smelled smoke.

The six volunteers inside quickly moved the animals to outdoor pens, according to the Republican American in Waterbury, Conn.

“We were just running on adrenaline,” said shelter president Kathy Johnson. “We didn’t care about the fire. It was just ‘let’s get the animals out of here as fast as we can.’”

The Animal Rescue Foundation, a nonprofit organization run by volunteers, was incorporated in 1978. The shelter takes in abandoned, abused and unwanted dogs and cats and houses them until they are adopted. Read more »