Donated alarm saves drug dog

An alarm donated to the sheriff?s department at the beginning of summer may have saved the life of the department?s drug dog.

?It very well could have been fatal if not for the alarm sounding,? said K-9 officer Cory Knowles of the incident which happened earlier this month while the officer was inside the sheriff?s department for a training class. ?It was one of those scorchers, one of the hottest days of the year.?

While Knowles was inside, his drug dog, Sara, a specially trained Belgian Malinois, was in her holding area in back of the K-9 vehicle. The engine had been left on to provide air conditioning for the dog since Knowles was going to be in class for several hours.

However, at some point, the vehicle began overheating, causing the air conditioner to begin blowing hot air into the vehicle. The temperature inside the closed vehicle climbed to 96 degrees.

It was the rise in temperature which activated the system recently donated by local trainer Jason Hanley of Midway Kennels.

?The sensors are set for a certain temperature and once it goes over, an alarm is sounded,? Hanley explained when he donated the alarm this past May.

The alarm, which sounds by honking the vehicle?s horn much like a regular car alarm, was heard by people outside the sheriff?s department who, in turn, informed Knowles.

?It may have been a little while before I would have been outside so there?s no telling how hot it could have gotten inside by then,? Knowles said.