KEY POINTS:
Police dog Cane is up to his old tricks again, despite being stabbed in the neck and shoulder only a week ago.
"He's limping and his shoulder is still sore, but he's certainly not sore in his brain," said his handler, Constable Jason Owen. "He managed to chase a cat in the weekend [and] went right through the ponga fence."
The 7 1/2-year-old german shepherd was stabbed with a dagger while apprehending a teenage suspect in a forest near Murupara in the Bay of Plenty.
A former national police dog champion, Cane was hailed as a hero for continuing to do his job even while bleeding profusely and yelping in pain.
"He carried on subduing the offender until I was able to get there and give him assistance," Mr Owen said.
Named after the Hurricanes rugby team, Cane is now set to retire and has been enjoying the treatment lavished on him since last Wednesday.
Mr Owen said he had received "heaps of gifts" from around the country, including blankets and chew toys.
The handler was grateful to those who had sent presents and also to Rotorua vet Ian McKenzie, who performed emergency surgery on Cane.
"He was awesome on the night and I can't thank him enough," Mr Owen said.
Cane had tracked the suspect and five cohorts for about 6km through rugged bush before he was stabbed. He managed to walk out of the forest with three vicious wounds, including one between his shoulder blades that missed his spine by a centimetre.
Mr Owen said it was "quite emotional" to see his canine companion bleeding heavily on the 40-minute drive back to Rotorua.
Cane has worked with Mr Owen since 2001 and arrested hundreds of suspects in his career. Cane was given to police by a Canadian family in Tauranga.
Mr Owen had been training a new puppy in preparation for retiring Cane at the end of the year, but now plans to retire Cane early and keep him as a pet.
A 16-year-old Murupara boy has been charged with wounding Cane and possession of an offensive weapon.
