Hamburg, N.Y. (WBEN) - One four-legged friend, who was almost trapped in a big Western New York winter snow storm, has now found a permanent home inside Hamburg's Emergency Service Dispatch Center.
On Jan. 13, before the eye of the severe winter weather hit Western New York, Hamburg Police Lieutenant John Baker responded to a call from a woman who saw a young, abandoned pup on the side of Scranton Road.
Lt. Baker noticed some scratches on the dog, a couple red marks around her neck, the dog also had a collar and a leash. Baker determined that the pup was just lost, and oftentimes taking in dogs and cats gone astray and reuniting them with their owners, Lt. Baker decided to bring the dog back to the station and post her to the police's social media pages.
"I fully expected the owner to come forth very quickly, as so often times that's the case," said Lt. Baker.
"A couple hours went by, nobody called. She spent the day with us. That night, I ended up taking her back to my place. The blizzard was hitting and the driving ban was coming into effect, I didn't want to take this dog to the vet or to the pound and have it sit there for four or five days. Next day, I brought it back into work with me again, she hung out at a station and that continued for the next couple of weeks, she came to work with me every day. Everybody here loved the dog, the dog got along great with everyone here."
According to the lieutenant, the dog, now named "Paddy", was most-likely the most well-mannered, calmest and friendliest dog the station has ever seen, which is why they decided she would be the perfect fit to have around the dispatch center and the police station.
"It just so happened that this dog was such a perfect fit," said Lt. Baker. "The talk of a stationhouse dog picked up steam. More and more people were on board with it and more and more people realized how great this dog was. Ultimately, after the few weeks of being here was still no owner coming forward, she's found herself a home here at the police station."
Hamburg's Emergency Manager Sean Crotty said there had always been talks with the police chief about getting a pet to boost morale around the station, especially after seeing the effectiveness therapy dogs have had on morale of first responders, dispatchers. Everything fell into place with this one.
"We found something that was just a perfect fit," said Crotty. "Although we didn't know what perfect looked like, we just waited for opportunity. And when that opportunity happened, we were prepared to enter into a partnership and collaboration between police and dispatch and foster that mentality of having a stationhouse dog."
Paddy is very happy in here new home, and the Hamburg first responders love coming into work to see a wagging tail greet them when they come in!
"In the morning, guys come in for orders, they come into the station and some of the first things that everybody says is 'Where's Paddy?' And they're smiling, going to play with and pet the dog. So as small and as simple of a thing as that is, like John says, there's a lot more smiles and a little bit more happiness each morning coming into work," noted Crotty.
