'He's saved lives': Proud cop praises Rudi following his retirement

PD Rudi joined Police Scotland when he was just 11 months old, but the heroic German Shepherd hung up his collar last month.

His handler, PC Davie McIntyre, revealed how he has an inseparable bond with Rudi, who was his first-ever police dog.

“I've had pet dogs all my life and it's a completely different bond,” PC McIntyre said.

“Rudi was at home with me when we had days off, and when we were working, he'd be there with me. I was with him all the time.

“The number of things that he’s done to protect me in this job is ridiculous. He’s even saved my life.”

READ MORE: Police dog Rudi praised for good work in helping catch wanted man

Rudi, who was based at Pollok Park and covered the West of Scotland, is believed to have saved countless lives with his ability to track human scent.

During his career, he found 32 missing people, 163 wanted criminals, 21 weapons and more than £10k worth of stolen property.

However, Rudi is now enjoying well-deserved time at home as a pet, despite still trying to join PC McIntyre when he’s leaving for work.

The 33-year-old said: “He is loving it, but my partner loves it more because she gets to take him out now. She wasn’t allowed to before because of his job.

“I think he's been around every park in Glasgow, and he's made loads of pals with dogs and all that sort of stuff. He's absolutely loving it; he’s totally chilled out.

“He always had an amazing switch. He knew when he was working, and he knew when it was days off or downtime. He is very cuddly when not working and likes to sit on the couch or run around the house.

“But when it came to work, he knew it was go-time and he'd search until he found that person.”

Rudi quickly located a criminal when dispatched to his first-ever job back in 2015.

A man, who had been recalled to prison, ran away from officers after jumping out of a window. 

PC McIntyre soon arrived along with PD Rudi, who found the person half a mile away hiding in a cellar he had broken into.

In 2016, Rudi, who also spent time as a firearms support dog, saved Christmas in Maybole, Ayrshire, after a thief broke into a care home and around 10 other properties to steal presents.

The robber was found by Rudi along with the gifts, and during a night shift, officers returned them to their owners after figuring out where they had been stolen from.

Meanwhile, after a serious assault in Maryhill, a man was left badly injured and two people had made off still armed with knives.

“I got there and deployed Rudi,” PC McIntyre said.

“We managed to get a track from the crime scene. He followed the track for a mile and a half and recovered two of the weapons that were still blood-soaked and had been hidden in bushes.

"He then found the two guys as they were trying to get back into their house.

“He saved someone’s life a couple of years ago. It was a missing gentleman that was injured, it was in the middle of nowhere in long grass and Rudi managed to find him when he was still alive.

“We were then able to co-ordinate with fire and rescue and ambulance to get the man to the hospital, and he's still alive to this day.

“Sometimes, the public don't realise how valuable the dogs are for protecting people and all they do it for is a ball.”

PC McIntyre has two other police dogs as well as a pet dog, who he described as “the boss of them all”.

He added: “I've always loved dogs. I grew up with dogs, and my mum and dad had dogs all their life. When I joined the police, I knew that this was the avenue I wanted to go through.

READ MORE: Knife hidden during disturbance in Glasgow found by police dog Rudi

“Rudi has helped me really enjoy my job because the job is hard. You deal with a lot of horrible people and incidents. And even when he’s found folk that have unfortunately succumbed to injuries, he's so good at just being comforting.

“I definitely couldn’t have asked for a better first dog, no chance. He's absolutely awesome. Even now he's getting older, he still wants to do things just because he knows it makes me happy.”

PC McIntyre and his partner celebrated Rudi’s successful career with a retirement do, and dozens of other officers attended to say goodbye.

“I was really sad,” PC McIntyre said.

“I was quite emotional, to be fair. It's now very strange being out in the police car and not having him in the back.

“As much as my other dogs are brilliant, it's just strange. Rudi was my first dog. I'd struggle to think of a time without him, he means a lot.”