PD Gru to retire from Northamptonshire Police after three years due to injury

A police dog is hanging up his harness after three years of working at Northamptonshire Police.

Police Dog Gru tore his hamstring last year and developed a condition called Gracilis Contracture, which ultimately led to the decision to retire him.

Following his diagnosis, PD Gru underwent intensive hydrotherapy for eight months at a local animal physiotherapist - Active Pet Centre, near Northampton, and also an innovative stem cell transplant at specialist vet clinic - The Renew Centre, in Gloucester.

Both sets of treatment were in the hope of getting him back to work however, police say whilst both have assisted in ensuring PD Gru is now pain free and on the road to a full recovery, the decision to retire him was made due to the intensity of operational police work and how it would be unfair to ask him to return to such a difficult job.

PD Gru’s handler - PC Bradley Bowman said: “PD Gru was a well-loved and valued member of the Dog Section and Team A Dogs & Firearms Central Operations Team, who loved fussing and playing with him on nightshift briefings.

“He was an extremely capable police dog, who had a commanding presence, but who could also switch to being a more social dog when not in work mode.

“Gru’s best feature is that he loves a cuddle from his friends and family and is an incredibly loving dog. He was known as the friendliest angry dog, as he would go from having cuddles and fuss from the officers, to being in his angry police mode, in the blink of an eye.

“Gru is retiring to live with my family as a loved pet and has already tested out the sofa! He now loves to lay at my feet on the rug in the living room and chew his bone.”

PD Gru is a four-and-a-half-year-old German Shepherd. He was born in the Czech Republic and travelled to the United Kingdom as a puppy where he joined Northamptonshire Police in 2020, becoming a licensed PD in February 2021.

PD Gru’s first ever successful job was when a driver decamped from a vehicle in Burton Latimer and he tracked across fields and a river to an estate more than a kilometre away, where the offender was hiding inside a property under a bed.

Since then, PD Gru has gone on to find numerous suspects for offences such as burglary, armed robbery, drugs offences, domestic assaults, traffic offences and more.

He has also deployed and found multiple vulnerable missing people, allowing them to get the help they needed.

He assisted on numerous firearms jobs and deployed to a spontaneous public order incident in the north of the county where he assisted in clearing a hostile crowd which were throwing missiles in his and other officers’ direction.

PD Gru also received a Chief Constable’s Commendation for his role in finding evidence relating to a murder in 2023.