An urgent appeal has been launched to help two newly retired police dogs who need major surgery.
German shepherds Miki and Kenai retired within a few months of each other from their service with North Yorkshire Police.
Six-year-old Miki, who worked as general purpose dog from March 2021 until October 2025, was forced to retire early after being diagnosed with spondylosis, hip dysplasia and a ruptured cruciate ligament, according to The Thin Blue Paw Foundation.
Now, his other cruciate ligament has ruptured and he needs further surgery.
Seven-year-old Kenai, who worked as a general purpose and firearms support dog for six years until the end of last year, broke his leg on Saturday, as he was settling into his retirement, the charity said.
He underwent specialist surgery on Monday and is now at home recovering with his owners.
Miki will have his surgery on Friday.
Miki lives in Northallerton with Claire Starkey, his former handler, her husband and their 12 other dogs, including working search and detection spaniel Jax.
Ms Starkey said Miki is “very much my best mate” and added: “Miki was a pleasure to work with and we had some fantastic results – tracking suspects from vehicles, finding vulnerable missing people, locating missing children, and also finding key items of property discarded from burglaries.
“Miki was an excellent tracker and I could always rely on him to find what needed to be found, and detain who needed to be detained.”
She said: “Miki has been my superhero at work and deserves the very best of health in retirement.
“He is enjoying retired life. He gets to run through the countryside, albeit slowly, and he can have a ball whenever he wants.
“Miki is still young and thinks he’s a giant puppy. When he began limping badly again, I knew it had likely been caused by his other cruciate rupturing.”
Kenai was bred in Hungary before moving to the UK to join the police, and was well-known throughout the North Yorkshire force, the charity said.
After retirement, he was adopted by newly joined police officers Ashley and Jess, from Harrogate, who did not want their surnames published.
Ashley said: “As soon as we met him, we fell in love.
“From day one, it’s like he’s always been with us.
“He’s such a good dog, he’s like a big puppy.”
The couple took Kenai on as their first retired police dog, but he broke his leg within a month.
The Thin Blue Paw Foundation, which supports more than 180 retired police dogs across the UK, is covering the costs, expected to be more than £2,500 for each surgery, and has launched an appeal to recoup the cash.
Founder Kieran Stanbridge said: “They’ve both got long lives ahead and we want to ensure they can enjoy it to the fullest.”
He added: “While we will continue to be there for retired police dogs like Miki, we believe that the Government should be doing more to support these dogs and we’re campaigning for Pensions for Police Dogs appeal so the cost of their care doesn’t fall solely on their new owners when they hang up their harness.”
To donate to Miki and Kenai’s fundraising appeal visit justgiving.com/campaign/north-yorkshire-police-dogs.
