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Puppies fail out of K9 training program, adopted by Richmond Police family anyway

Posted at 5:19 PM, Oct 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-24 17:27:13-04

RICHMOND, Va. – Four Belgian Malinois puppies with hopes of fighting crime in the City of Richmond will no longer get that opportunity.

The female puppies were training as drug and bomb dogs for the department.

CBS 6 first introduced you to Ivy, Lexi, Lilo, and Stormy back in June. Richmond Animal Care and Control had just donated the four puppies, born after the shelter seized their pregnant mother from the Animal Motel boarding facility.

CBS 6 have been following their journey over the last several months. The puppies learned to track narcotics and got to watch current K-9 officers in action at the RPD K-9 facility.

Now at about seven months old, the puppies have been disqualified from the K9 training program after not meeting their standards.

View this post on Instagram

The bad news: Lexi didn’t meet our standards and is no longer a drug dog candidate. The good news: looks like she’s ready for us to find someone to spoil her.

A post shared by RPD K9 Unit (@rpdk9unit) on

Even though the Belgian Malinois pups won’t become police K9s, they are still a part of the Richmond Police Department family.

“Thankfully, all the puppies have gone to loving homes and we are certain they are enjoying their new lives,” Richmond Police wrote in a Facebook post.

Three of the four pups have gone to live with the families of officers and emergency communications workers. The fourth was adopted by a former K9 handler.

“We would like to thank Richmond Animal Care and Control and the entire community for their support through this process! We’ll be sure to keep you updated on all of our current K-9 officers,” officials wrote.

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