From a La Crosse police dog to disabled to a happy dog again

Brutus former partner, current human: “He will go
outside and play and run, and be as active as he always was.”

A genetic disorder robbed Brutus the use of his hind legs.

Before, he had to be helped around, carried with a cloth wrapped around his body to keep his hind end off the ground. 

Now, however, the former La Crosse police K9 is, well, officer Casey Rossman tells it best as Brutus is now equipped with the dog equivalent to a wheelchair.

“The directions say put it on, but don’t take him out the first day,” Rossman said. “Well, I ended up putting it on Brutus. 

“Right away, the first day, he took to it like water. He was all over the place – 100 miles an hour, just loving the freedom.”

Only one thing the 10-year-old German Shepherd can’t do anymore, and that’s jump in the back of the squad and head off to work for the P.D. Something he’d done since 2010.

“I don’t know if dogs get depression, but he had that look in his eye that he wanted to come with and he was sad that he couldn’t,” Rossman said. “Now, with this, he is able to be alive again. He will go outside and play and run, and be as active as he always was.”

Brutus underwent surgery on his back. There was optimism he would pull through and return to the force. But, when he was supposed to be well into recovery, vets found the degenerative disorder, and he had to go through an emergency surgery on his stomach and spleen. That forced his retirement.

But the wheeled harness has given him, at least a semblance of a dog’s life again – just no more drug busts.

How Brutus got fitted for the equipment is as simple as the Facebook post below from the La Crosse Police Dept. that was shared across social media.

Jason Parker saw that video. Parker just happens to run a company called Gunnar’s Wheels. Its mission is to, you guessed it, help dogs who are unable to use their hind legs.

Rossman was surprised to be contacted by Parker.

“He has helped, in the last year, with, I think, 212 different dogs,” Rossman said.

To checkout the nonprofit organization’s Facebook page click here.

The La Crosse Police Department is seeking donations to replace Brutus and Rossman says they have seen an outpouring of community support.