29/04/2024
Long read but worth it! Posting with sadness -
Let me tell you a story about a Police Dog. In 2012 I got this little German Shepherd that I named after
my Dad’s service in the Marine Corps. I named this dog Gunny. Well Old Gunny died Friday morning at
Locke Taylor Vet at the Glen Allen office. He was surrounded by these incredible vets and techs that
have taken care of him throughout his police years and retired years. Next to Gunny was Retired K9
Officer Jimmy Turner. Jimmy was my shift partner when he worked for RPD K9. Jimmy was their when
I got my first apprehension with Gunny and was their for Gunny’s last breath. While I took on a new
patrol dog, Jimmy retired and adopted Gunny from me and gave him a great retirement on the banks of
the Chickahominy River. This dog was a great dog in so many different ways. He was my first
patrol/utility dog. That means his job was to find bad guys, find guns and shell casings in crime scenes,
protect police officers and to protect me. Gunny found a good amount of bad guys and many illegal
guns that will never ever be able to harm people again. Gunny never stopped on a mission until he
broke his back during a training exercise. Instead of putting the dog down, the City of Richmond Police
Department did not hesitate and spent thousands of dollars on MRI’s , Spinal surgery and Rehab. We
got Gunny back on his feet and back on the streets to serve the citizens of Richmond. Gunny served
another year with the department after this surgery.
Gunny was now retired from his years of police duty, but just because the dog is retired does not mean
the medical bills stop coming in. Because of his injuries while serving the city, Gunny still needed
medical help. You see with our department and mostly all departments nationwide, the post
retirement medical bills are not handled by the department they are handled by the family of the retired
K9. That’s when good people step in and help serve the dogs that served us. I am very fortunate that
my old dog was taken care of by Jimmy Turner but Jimmy also had a team behind him. Numerous Vet
bills, dog food, medicines were taken care of by VPK9 Association. The Friends of Richmond Police K9
assisted with monthly dog food until VPK9 Association took over. Jimmy was awarded a yearly stipend
from Friends of Richmond K9, but he refused it in order for the money to go to other RPD retired K9s.
Our go to emergency vet in Carytown for RPD K9 is the Virginia Veterinary Center, this emergency vet
has had a special partnership with the Friends of Richmond K9 since our begining and the VVC took care
of Gunny’s second knee surgery free of charge to Jimmy. The Primary Vet for RPD K9 is Locke Taylor
Veterinary Hospital, every week, for more than a year Jimmy drove Gunny an hour both ways from his
house to Locke Taylor Glen Allen for laser treatments. Locke Taylor never charged Jimmy for this, Gunny
was their dog also.
I thank all of these wonderful people for taking care of a special dog.
A/Sgt. Fred E. Bates
RPD K9
