CHARITY


CELEBRATING THE THIN BLUE PAW


The Thin Blue Paw Foundation launched in the summer of 2020 and has issued £160,000 in payments to owners of retired police dogs, covering the bills for life-saving surgery to regular medication and therapy to ease pain and enhance the quality of life


Founded by a group of dog lovers, the charity wanted to ensure these canine heroes had access to the best care and treatment to enable them to live long, happy and healthy lives. It currently has more than 370 registered dogs in the UK that need support. Charity Trustee Kieran Stanbridge said: “Hundreds of police dogs retire every year,


38 | POLICE | AUGUST | 2023


and many are adopted by their handlers while others are taken on by other police


“We would have found the money somehow, but it would have been incredibly difficult. Our dogs are like our family, so we would have done whatever we needed for Finn”


staff or members of the public. “Many new owners find it almost impossible to


get their new pets insured due to their previous working lives, which means if something untoward or unexpected happens, they have no safety net or financial support and can be left having to make heart-breaking decisions about whether to pay their


mortgage or save their dog’s life. We didn’t want anyone to be in that position.”


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