Greendale Police Celebrates K-9 Nova Turning 10

GREENDALE, WI — Monday marked a special birthday for the Greendale Police Department.

If you're counting in dog years, K-9 Nova is now 70. Of course, that's only 10 in human years.

The department announced the news on Facebook first along with a picture of Nova and his handler, Officer Tony Fitzgerald. The caption reads "Guess which one of these guys is 70 today?!"

The birthday marks almost a decade of K-9 Nova's service in the Greendale Police Department. He was purchased through community-raised funds in 2013 when he was just 18-months-old. Nova is a German Shepherd/Belgian Malinois mix.

In his time with the department, Nova has gone through quite a bit. In 2019, the department had to get CT scans done on him after he was acting sluggish at a training camp, a Facebook post said.

The CT scans found Nova had a ruptured spinal disc and signs of early-onset degenerative spinal disease. His treatment included some cortisone shots and a few weeks of rest, the post read.