A very lucky police dog and very thankful corrections officer are back together patrolling the cell blocks of Rikers Island thanks to the help of a pacemaker.
Blaze, a 4-year-old black German shepherd, is expected to have a long career facing down violent inmates and restoring order during jail-yard riots thanks to a quick-thinking doctor who diagnosed him with a rare heart condition.
The young dog, which has been with the city corrections unit for three years, keeled over five months ago while on the job.
His partner, Correction Capt. Efrain Madera thought the dog was having a seizure, only he wasn’t shaking. Instead, Blaze was still with his eyes open. Although he got up and went back work, Madera’s four-legged friend collapsed two more times in the six weeks that followed the initial incident.
Concerned, Madera took the dog to the Animal Medical Center on East 62nd Street, which provides medical attention to all of New York's police dogs. Dr. Philip Fox, a board-certified cardiologist who’s worked at the AMC for 30 years, diagnosed Blaze as having a heart blockage, which was preventing its electrical current from penetrating the heart muscle. MagazineLane.com
