Admit it; we all need ice cream after a long and stressful day at work. There’s this unexplainable spark with eating a cold, sweet treat as it magically washes away all our bodies’ stress and tiredness. It’s like saying that everything will be alright.
As much as humans need ice cream to destress, police dogs need it, too, since they cover a whole shift of running, sniffing, and chasing. Don’t believe it? Just ask one police dog from Fishers, Indiana, who can’t hide his excitement over this sweet treat.
The officers from the Fishers Police Department K9 unit know how grueling their jobs can be, which is also experienced firsthand by their canine partners. These hardworking dogs seemed scary on the outside as they’re trained to go on dangerous missions, and their abilities are very useful to mark each mission with success.
They may seem scary on the outside due to the way they were trained, but they’re just like your family dogs! With the dangerous missions they encounter almost every day, they’re given extra perks that other dogs can dream of — one of them is a free pass for ice cream.
The Good Boy Who Deserves a Treat
One K9 in particular who proved to be worthy of ice cream was brought to a popular spot in Fishers called Handel’s Ice Cream & Yogurt by his handler. A cold ice cream is just perfect for a hot sunny day, and since the K9 dog has been working really hard, he deserves a treat.
The moment that the dog knew they were getting ice cream, he couldn’t contain his excitement. His ears went straight up, and his body was tensed due to anticipation. Despite being on a leash, he was racing to go to the ice cream spot. It looked like he was the one pulling his handler as he hurriedly walked towards the spot.
As the dog reached the counter, the employees immediately recognized him to be one of the K9 dogs who helped protect the community. With that, one of the staff members prepared a small vanilla ice cream cone for him. The K9 dog couldn’t keep his eyes off the ice cream, and his excitement grew when the ice cream treat was served to him. With a quick leap, he reached for the ice cream cone and started doing his thing.
Surprisingly, it was all gone in seconds, which made the onlookers chuckle. The dog’s tail was wagging nonstop, and everything was captured on camera by one police officer on duty. The Fisher’s Police Department shared the footage on their Facebook page, where it quickly went viral with thousands of views, shares, and reactions.
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Can Dogs Eat Ice Cream?
But wait, as much as we enjoyed the video, let’s first check if ice cream is safe to eat for dogs. Occasionally, vanilla ice cream can be a safe treat, but before you hand your dog some, there are important reminders you need to keep in mind. Otherwise, this could cause health problems for your dogs or, worse, death.
While a little occasional vanilla ice cream could be fine at times for most dogs, there are some situations when you should keep away this treat from your dog. Here are some:
- Your dog could be lactose intolerant – Ice cream is made from dairy, so it contains lactose or milk sugar, and to break it down in their system, they may need lactase. While dogs produce lactase, there are times when it’s not enough, leading to an upset stomach, which can cause diarrhea, constipation, nausea, cramps, and such.
- There are dangerous ingredients in ice cream – Do mind that some flavors of ice cream are dangerous for dogs. One example of this is chocolate, which is generally well-known. Chocolate may lead to cardiac arrhythmia, heart failure, and death. Other dangerous ingredients/flavors of ice cream that you need to watch out for are coffee, nuts, and raisins.
- Ice cream has sugar – Okay, so now your dog doesn’t have lactose, and you’ve chosen a vanilla flavor ice cream. Can they eat the ice cream treat now? There’s another thing to consider, and that’s sugar. Too much sugar will make your dog gain weight, and it could lead to health problems such as dental disease, metabolic disease, and diabetes.
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From The Club
I have a soft heart for both shelter dogs and K9 dogs, as they’re usually the ones who have a sob story in the end. Seeing the handler giving the K9 dog his well-deserved treat makes me smile. At least I know that the handler cares for his K9’s happiness. But I do hope the ice cream is just an occasional treat for the K9 dog. I remember feeding my dog small portions of ice cream, but when he vomited it out, that’s when I learned that he is lactose intolerant. The cautions presented above must be a reminder to all fur parents and dog handlers out there.
