By Rachel Tiffen
The image of six-year-old police dog Gage lying dead on a Christchurch street last July upset police and many others. His handler, Senior Constable Bruce Lamb, was critically wounded and Gage jumped over his master, only to be shot and killed.
Mr Lamb says it's been a long nine months of recovery since the shooting. His colleague, Senior Constable Mitch Alatalo, was also wounded. However Gage was the only fatality.
Today, nearly a year on from the shooting, Mr Lamb's new partner in crime, Mylo, graduated from police college.
And while Mr Lamb misses his old partner, he says Mylo is a pleasure to work with.
"As my wife says, he needs wee wings, he's an angel," Mr Lamb says. "He comes from hunting lines so he's a very driven searcher. He's fanatical about searching and finding narcotics."
Mylo was one of eight narcotics and explosives dogs to graduate today at a ceremony where Police Minister Judith Collins gave Mr Lamb special praise.
"Bruce you've been an inspiration to us all," Ms Collins said. "Following Gage's death there was an outpouring of sympathy by the public of New Zealand and Christchurch."
It takes 10 months to train a police dog like Mylo at a cost of $30,000. But it is dogs like Gage that show that the money is well-spent, when they lay down their lives in the line of duty.
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