RPD Jooba – who worked first with the military and then as a police dog – started acting strangely around her owner, Michael Greaves, prompting him to speak to his doctor. He was then rushed in an ambulance to a major trauma centre having suffered from a heart attack.
Nine-year-old Belgian Malinois Jooba started acting strangely and erratically around Michael at their home in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, on 5th October. It turned out Michael was having a heart attack.
“I didn’t know I’d had a heart attack, I thought it was indigestion!” Michael, 50, explained. “But Jooba knew something was wrong and wouldn’t leave me alone.
“She dragged her bed across the room to lay next to me. She kept jumping up at me to lick my hands and my face, and was really unsettled and acting out of character.
“We had no idea what she was doing but as I’d not been feeling great and she wouldn’t leave my side, I decided to book an appointment with my GP the next day.
“It was a bit of a shock when they put me in an ambulance and blue-lighted me to a major trauma centre in Sheffield.”
Michael was in hospital for a week and then returned home, but was signed off work to recover.
‘A special bond’
Jooba worked as a military dog in Dorset before moving to South Wales Police and then South Yorkshire Police, where she was partnered with Michael.
The duo worked together for a year before Jooba’s retirement in 2022. Michael and his family didn’t want to say goodbye to her so they offered her a home.
Jooba – who has only recently made it back onto her paws following two major surgeries to repair torn cruciate ligaments in her hind legs, the first in 2022 and the second, in November – is supported in her retirement by the Thin Blue Paw Foundation – a UK charity that supports, rehabilitates, protects and celebrates working and retired police dogs – and funded her surgeries.
Co-founder and trustee Kieran Stanbridge said: “The special bond between a police dog and their handler is deeply rooted; they work so closely together and they often become inseparable.
“Police dogs are trained to make the most of their natural abilities and instincts, and Jooba demonstrated this perfectly in October when she detected that something was wrong with her partner and alerted him to the changes going on in his body.
“It’s incredible that Jooba managed to encourage Michael to seek medical attention when he was unknowingly suffering a major health problem; she could well have saved his life!
“This is just one of the reasons why we’re so proud to support these canine heroes so they can live out their retirements happy and healthy, and, who knows, maybe even go on to save more lives.”
Michael added: “When we worked together, Jooba kept me safe every single shift and made sure I always came home to my loved ones.
“When she retired, I knew it was only right that I do the same for her, and offer her a warm, safe and loving home to live out her days. I never expected that she’d be saving my life again, long after hanging up her police harness!”
The Thin Blue Paw Foundation has supported more than 150 retired police dogs across the UK to help ease the financial burden on their owners.
Police dogs often retire with medical problems, due to the strenuous nature of their working lives, and the charity helps by financially supporting ongoing medications and treatments, such as hydrotherapy, to improve the dogs’ quality of life, as well as paying for unexpected and life-saving surgeries.
