It's been two years since Flash the Dog wound up at the Harwinton Animal Control Shelter and today, she's still there waiting for a family to adopt her.

Flash has got a very interesting story. When she was found, just about two years ago, she was just a year old, very underweight, and basically a mess.

According to middletownpress.com, shortly after Flash got to the shelter, the town's Animal Control Officer, Tom Mitchell noticed that Flash wasn't like all the other dogs that passed through the shelter -- she was special.

Tom realized right away that Flash had the perfect intelligence and temperament, and thought Flash would make a great police dog.

So it was off to police school for Flash, where she got trained in both narcotics detection and suspect apprehension, which made her very useful and sought after.

A police department in Texas made a request for Flash, so it looked like good news and that Flash would be heading to the Lone Star State to start her professional career as a full fledged police dog. Unfortunately, plans in Texas fell through, and Flash remained at the Harwinton Shelter, where she still remains to this day.

Mitchel told middletownpress.com, and commented on the shelters Facebook page about Flash, and the difficulties in placing a dog like her in a new home.

It’s a difficult proposition. Since all of her extensive police training, she’s protective of her food, called resource guarding, and around people with whom she’s not familiar. She likes other dogs but can be overly reactive. Around her handler, Flash is a perfect angel, but if she doesn’t know you and you try to do something, she’s going to try and stop you. This is a machine of a dog, she will trust her handler, but she’s not going to let somebody approach whoever’s holding her on a leash.

Here's the main issue with Flash. Since she's now three years old, the time frame for her to be picked up by a Police Department has passed. So now the shelter is looking for someone to step up and give Flash a happy life and a forever home.

Mitchell described the problem with placing Flash in a new home:

Her sheer intelligence makes her a difficult match for a potential owner. Anyone who isn’t trained sufficiently will have trouble controlling her.  I do see her with a police or military veteran, someone who used to work with dogs when they were on the job. She’s amazing, I wish more people would come and meet her.

The shelter has put together a list of criteria for those who might be interested in Flash:

  1. Experience: Flash needs a person with experience handling a focused working dog.
  2. No children: Flash loves kids, but a home with children would be a “setup for a failure,” Mitchell said.
  3. A single-person home: Flash is great with her handler, but has been trained to guard her person.
  4. A military or police background: It’s not imperative, but a person who worked with dogs in the service would be best.
  5. No other dogs: Flash likes other dogs but can be overly reactive.

For more information, you can call the Harwinton Animal Control at (860) 485-9051, or find them on Facebook.

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