K-9 Axe (Photo: Facebook)
A Middletown, N.Y., police dog died Tuesday despite being rushed to a veterinary hospital after collapsing during training.
The dog, Axe, and his handler, Officer Michael McDonald, were training at the Orange County Sheriff's Office K-9 Training Center in Montgomery. Police said they had just completed training Tuesday afternoon when Axe passed out and went into cardiac arrest.
Officers from multiple Orange County Departments who were at the training, as well as Middletown officers, used patrol cars to do a sort of rolling roadblock of intersections along the way, to speed the cruiser with Axe to Middletown and the Monhagen Veterinary Hospital, the Times Herald-Record reports. He was pronounced dead on arrival.
Middletown police Lt. John Ewanciw said Axe and McDonald started training academy in March and were due to graduate July 11. Axe was excelling in all aspects of the training, Ewanciw said, and had never had any problems before. Axe's collapse did not appear heat-related, he said.
