Man’s Best Friend & A Friend’s Best Man: Montville Police Officer Saves His K-9

We’ve all heard stories and seen movies of the heroic dog protecting their owner at all costs. Dog saves person from a burning building. Dog rescues owner from falling through the ice or down the well. What happens when the roles are reversed and the dog needs rescuing from danger?

Cue to Officer Dan Witts of the Montville Police Department (AFSCME Local 2504). Half of his 5 years with the department have been spent with his K-9 German Shepard, Barrett. He never expected what would happen to him one frightful morning in May.

Officer Witts responded to a motor vehicle accident. Barrett sniffed out the vehicle and alerted twice to the presence of an illegal substance. Officers discovered fentanyl, a dangerous narcotic, located in the trunk and front of the vehicle. On their way back to the police department, after making an arrest, Officer Witts noticed Barrett was falling over in the back of his cruiser. He displayed a shortness of breath, peculiar eye movements, and was not listening to commands.

Witts immediately ran the siren and drove to the nearest animal hospital. By the time he arrived, Barrett was passed out and unresponsive. It would be another 15 minutes until the hospital opened and the veterinarian arrived. Something had to be done before it was too late.

Acting quickly, Witts located Barrett’s safety kit. He administered 4 milligrams of Narcan, a spray used to reverse opioid overdose, to his nose and pumped air into his lungs. Within minutes Barrett came to and was moving around.

“It was like when you bring your kid to the hospital,” he said. “You’re a nervous wreck. As soon as you see him coming back alive and he’s looking at you and he started getting happy again – it’s the best feeling in the world.”

When the veterinarian arrived, they determined additional Narcan was unnecessary. After close monitoring of Barrett for 6 hours, he was released from the hospital and running around again with his ball. Despite having blood shot eyes for two days, Barret made a full recovery was back on the road.

“It was definitely a scary moment,” Witts explained. “If [administering the Narcan] didn’t work, he would have died because I couldn’t go anywhere else. The closest 24-hour vet to us is 45 minutes in either direction. Luckily, I knew what to do and did what I had to, and it worked.”

Although these types of K-9 emergencies occur in Connecticut a few times a year, for Witts and other K9 handlers, it’s a huge wake up call. Most handlers do not expect an event like this will happen until it does.

“I know a couple of handlers who have found their dog dead in the back of their seat,” he said. “If it’s not fentanyl, it’s a heart attack, stuff like that. I never thought I would need to use [Narcan].”

Officer Witts is using this experience as an opportunity to educate other K9 units on proper emergency and safety preparedness for their dogs. Here are some of the standard procedures he recommends:

  1. Monitor your dog after serving a vehicle for at least 30 minutes. “A lot of times there’s so stuff much going on,” he explains, “you’re searching vehicles, you’re out processing evidence, and you completely forget your dog is in the back of the car now. I stayed with Barrett for 45 minutes to an hour.”
  2. Have your K9 safety kit aka “Buddy Bag” ready and easily accessible. “You never know when you’re going to need it”, he said. “A lot of officers throw it in the car expecting they will never use it, or they have it underneath a pile of other bags. Luckily, I had a clean cruiser, so I could easily find it.”
  3. Check contents of K9 safety kit and replace expired items. “Especially with K-9s, they have a lot of gear, so you could lose the medication”, he said. “Narcan expires if you don’t check on it. You get it when you get your dog and forget about it until you need it and it doesn’t work.”

Officer Witts is already seeing the fruits of his efforts. Two organizations that donate life-saving supplies to dogs of law enforcement, K9s of Valor and Vested Interest in K9s, were flooded with requests for new equipment. K9s of Valor donated nearly 160 Narcan overdose kits from their 200 unit supply. Vested Interest in K9s donated 450 kits. Most of the requests and donations were sent directly to K-9 units located across Connecticut.

Besides educating other K-9 units, Witts also wants the public to understand police dogs are more than just animals or a piece of equipment for the town. There is more behind the scene than a police dog merely performing its job.

“A lot of people don’t see how much time we put into our dogs outside of work,” he explains. “I put in hours and hours of training with him each week. He comes home with me and he lives with my family. I am with him 24/7.”

“It’s a lot of work,” he adds, “but it’s definitely worth it. He’s my best friend in life.”