Died – 5\/2\/16
\nHandler – Lt. Brandi Cunningham<\/p>\n
Whitestown fire dog dies after battle with cancer<\/p>\n
He was a familiar site around Whitestown Fire Dept. Station 72 \u2013 a playful Golden Retriever named Buck with a very important job sniffing out accelerants at fires suspected of being intentionally set. But on May 2, Buck, who was just 5-years-old, passed away after a month-long battle with terminal cancer.\u201cWhen I went to take him to the vet, both (fire) stations here in Whitestown were there. All the crews lined up as I took him inside,\u201d Buck\u2019s handler and owner Lt. Brandi Cunningham said. \u201cThe room was big enough that there were about 12 of us in there. I was surprised but they said they were going to stay right there with me. I didn\u2019t look up because I was crying, but I was told there wasn\u2019t a dry eye in the room.\u201d Cunningham got Buck in December 2012 when he was 2 \u00bd years old from Bob Laughner, who trains police dogs. Laughner had started working with Buck, who was a family pet, just to see what he could do. \u201cHe pretty much offered him to me for free to try out as an accelerant dog,\u201d Cunningham said. Certified on 12 different accelerants, Buck was one of just four accelerant sniffing canines in Central Indiana.\u201cWe would handle a handful of calls in Boone County but the State Fire Marshall would call me a lot and I would take him wherever he was needed throughout the state,\u201d Cunningham said. Buck was a fixture at the station when Cunningham was at work. That\u2019s a rare thing in this day and age, according to Whitestown Fire Chief Josh Westrich.\u201cA lot of people went away from having a firehouse dog. Most weren\u2019t training in anything \u2013 just a department mascot if you will,\u201d Westrich said. \u201cBecause of the three shifts \u2013 the different families if you will \u2013 the dogs got different treatment on various shifts \u2013 say one would allow the dog to eat table scraps, and another wouldn\u2019t. Plus, not everyone is keen on having a dog around.\u201d That wasn\u2019t the case, however with Buck. \u201cThey were very flexible to let me bring him to work. He was such an extremely friendly dog and everyone had their own special bond with him. The guys on my shift were around him a third of their lives. They would play fetch with him, kids would come to the station just to see Buck,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cMaintenance is also out here so maintenance guys or cops would stop by and come in the door and just yell for Buck to come see them.\u201d But make no mistake, Buck was a \u201cMama\u2019s boy,\u201d Westrich said. \u201cEven at work he didn\u2019t like getting too far away from her,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen I took a shower he would be right there in the locker room with me or if someone was petting him he would look over his shoulder to make sure I hadn\u2019t left,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cBut he also knew when we got a run and the tones went off and he would usually be in the locker room waiting for me to close the door when I left.\u201d As to how she\u2019s doing without her constant companion, Cunningham said overall she is \u201cpretty good.\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s just weird because in the middle of the night when I got up at work I automatically looked to make sure I didn\u2019t step on him because he slept next to my bed and I\u2019ve caught myself like \u2018Oh, he\u2019s not there,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cAnd, when we got to work the first thing he did was grab the newspaper and bring it inside for us.\u201d Right now Cunningham isn\u2019t sure if she will look into acquiring another accelerant detection dog. \u201cI would have to talk to the chief to see if he would allow it but I am just not sure because honestly it is a lot of work,\u201d Cunningham said. \u201cThe IMPD (Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department) guys are bugging me about getting another dog because there aren\u2019t enough of us but right now I haven\u2019t really given it much thought.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Died – 5\/2\/16 Handler – Lt. Brandi Cunningham Whitestown fire dog dies after battle with cancer He was a familiar site around Whitestown Fire Dept. Station 72 \u2013 a playful Golden Retriever named Buck with a very important job sniffing out accelerants at fires suspected of being intentionally set. But on May 2, Buck, who …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,1],"tags":[25],"class_list":["post-1487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-arson-k9","category-k9memorial","tag-in"],"yoast_head":"\n