NSP officer reunited with ‘Trooper’

Friday, January 22, 2021
NSP officer Amanda Sackett reunites with “Trooper,” the dog found last year with 19 stab wounds.
Lorri Sughroue/McCook Gazette

McCOOK, Neb— The Nebraska State Patrol officer who helped rescue a puppy found last year with multiple stab wounds recently had the chance to see him again.

Almost a year ago, the NSP responded to a call of a severely injured dog in rural Furnas County. NSP officer Amanda Sackett arrived on the scene, the three- to four-month-old puppy covered in blood and wrapped in a blanket by the family who found him. She put him on the front seat of the car and drove to McCook.

“I really wondered if he would survive, the wounds were so severe,” she recalled. The wounds extended along his throat, abdomen and legs, the one on his throat especially deep, she said. The nature of wounds and their placement on only one side led Sackett to speculate the puppy was held down on his side while he was stabbed. “It was horrifying to see what was done to this animal,” Sackett said.

Trooper has since been adopted by a family in the area and loves to snuggle under blankets, play in the water, and sleep surrounded by his toys.
Courtesy photo

She took the dog to Dr. Wayne Watkins at Red Willow Animal Clinic, who she called after contacting the McCook Humane Society. “He told me not to worry about the cost, just bring the dog in,” Sackett recalled. The surgery took almost three hours and a total of 19 stab wounds were identified. Costs of the surgery were later picked up by an anonymous donor.

Publicity about the dog quickly spread and the dog was nicknamed “Trooper.” Many came to the McCook Humane Society where he was recovering, Sackett said, and in an effort to keep him calm so his stitches and drain tubes would not be disturbed, he was placed in a private room.

The senseless cruelty of the attack led one person in the area to offer to sit with him each day. “I made it clear I wasn’t interested in adopting him, I just wanted him to know that not all of humanity was evil,” she said.

Already there was a lot of interest in adopting the puppy, from state patrol officers in and outside the state as well as numerous other people touched by the dogs’ plight. When Trooper had recovered enough to be adopted, the person who had been sitting with him found that she was interested, too, “even though I thought I was done with the pet thing,” and Trooper was placed with her family in Southwest Nebraska.

Now with a new name, the dog has adapted remarkably well, the family said, even though at first he was leery about being inside a house and had to be hand-fed, as he didn’t know how to eat out of a bowl. He’s extremely friendly and loves to snuggle under blankets on the couch, but “he still can’t understand why the cat doesn’t like him.”

For Sackett, the recent reunion with “Trooper” at an area park was emotional, she said. The last time she saw him, he was recovering at the humane society. Considering all he’s been through, his ability to trust and willingness to forgive is amazing, she said. In fact, the dog immediately came over to Sackett at the park and started licking her face, then danced around her, ready to play. “He’s touched so many people and that he still trusts us, has so much faith in people, it’s crazy,” she said.

A 29-year-old transient man from Belden was charged in the stabbing, with felony intentional cruelty to an animal and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony. He pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of cruelly mistreating an animal, a Class 1 misdemeanor was given 60 days in jail. When the NSP first found him, he was with another dog that was later taken to the McCook Humane Society and has since been adopted out. The man is currently facing charges pending elsewhere in the state, Sackett said.

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