KITT THE COURAGEOUS K-9

Officer Bill Cushing needed a partner. His dog needed a purpose. Together, they rescued each other.

- Dave Wedge

When Cushing suddenly heard sirens, though, and his phone lit up with the Braintree Police Department number, he knew his day was about to start early.

A domestic violence call had come in, and the department needed Cushing and Kitt, his police dog for the past decade, to help find the suspect. Cushing rushed to put on his uniform. Kitt, an 11-year-old German shepherd Belgian Malinois mix, snapped to attention. It was time to go to work.

Cushing drove toward the scene on McCusker Drive, listening to the radio chatter and speeding up as he heard the action escalate. The suspect possibly had two firearms, was on foot and had fled into the woods behind a massive apartment complex.

Cushing knew the spot. Those woods had been the site of many police incidents where he and Kitt had tracked assailants in the past.

By the time Cushing whipped into the parking lot at the edge of the woods, other officers were there. One directed Cushing and Kitt to the last known spot where the fugitive had been seen. Kitt immediately picked up the scent, and they were off, charging into the brush. Kitt tugged forcefully at his leash, almost dragging Cushing into a sprint.

Soon, Kitt leaped toward a large rock, which let Cushing know that behind it, the armed man they were after was hiding and ready to pounce.

TEN YEARS EARLIER, on a warm July day in 2011, Cushing climbed into a van with Mark O'Reilly, the master K-9 trainer from the Massachusetts Department of Correction. They headed toward a police-dog training center in Bethany, Connecticut.

Cushing didn't yet know much about being a K-9 officer. He'd been a beat cop for the past six years. But now, in his early 30s, he wanted more action and to make a greater contribution to keeping his hometown safe. He believed that becoming a K-9 officer was the way to do it.