Retired USAR Fire Dog Frankie Needed Major Surgery After Suffering A Fractured Leg.

Brave retired USAR Fire Dog Frankie needs our help.

Yesterday, 23rd January, 2025, Frankie fell and badly fractured her foreleg. She was rushed to the veterinary surgeon where she was sedated overnight and she underwent emergency surgery today, the 24th January.

She has had metal plates inserted along with a screw to stabilise her injury and is currently recuperating on what her wonderful surgeon calls 'Happy Juice'.

The costs, including ongoing physio, therapy, x-rays, and medications will be in excess of £6,000.

The National Foundation for Retired Service Animals will be assisting with these bills, and we hope you may be able to support us today.

About Frankie

Frankie was an Urban Search and Rescue Dog who served with Tyne & Wear Fire Service before being officially retired in 2024.

Frankie came into a life of service after having been rescued herself from the streets of Ireland.

She was procured by Northumbria Police and taken on by Steve Carr, an ex-royal marine who had joined the fire service becoming a dog handler.

Within a very short space of time, Frankie had become fully trained as an Urban Search and Rescue Dog, which meant she was fully capable of finding people buried in collapsed buildings and other areas of disaster where survivors would need to be found at speed.

Her strength of character always saw her through the toughest of situations, and today she has had to dig deep, while being watched over by her devoted ex-handler and now Dad Steve, who is beside himself with worry.

What do USAR Dogs do?

Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) expertise and a wide range of other skills act as part of the local and national specialist response arrangements.

USAR dogs are able to respond and carry out rescues at incidents where people are missing and their precise location is unknown. This could include building explosions or large-scale collapses of factories or other large properties and incidents where a comprehensive specialist response is required.

When saving lives, time is everything and the expert nose of a USAR dog can mean the difference between life and death. They are trained to detect live human scent.

The USAR UK is made up of 20 teams across the country and they are deployed wherever there is a situation such as this.

Frankie was an incredibly important part of this vital service, and her terrible accident has affected all who know and love her.

How You Can Help

The National Foundation for Retired Service Animals is a UK registered charity (1200949) that supports retired dogs and horses from the Police; Fire & Rescue Service (including USAR dogs); Border Force; Prison; National Crime Agency; NHS (specialist search dogs); & MOD Police services with medical and vets bills.

Launched in 2022, it has now gifted over £120,000 in grants, and in January 2025 alone, it has already given 15 grants to members of the NFRSA family.

By donating to this special appeal, you will be helping us to cover the vets and ongoing costs to return Frankie to full health, just as she has been trained to save lives, you will be effectually saving hers.

We would be so grateful for your support and we will update you with news as Frankie journeys on her road to recovery.

As Steve, Frankie's owner said:

“Honestly, I was completely broken. The whole family were heartbroken. For my son, Frankie is his best pal. He was absolutely devastated.

“But the help and support of the NFRSA has been an absolute godsend. I'm not the kind of person who goes looking for charity, but when you get to this stage, you either have to have your dog put to sleep, or seek assistance.

“The support that they have given us has been phenomenal. Like the fire service, the NFRSA is one of those sources of help that you don't really appreciate until you need it.”

The charity’s founder Lady Bathurst commented: ‘For us this is a privilege. To be able to mobilise at huge speed, and have a grant approved in less than six hours is exactly why we are here.

“I have seen the incredible bond our service animals have with their handlers, and I have witnessed the work they do as teams. The lives saved, and sometimes under serious pressure, is staggering, and to be able to offer this support in their hour of need, when they have been there for us all, is incredibly important to us, and the kindness of the public enables us to do just that.

“The NFRSA’s motto is ‘Protecting our Protectors’ and to have the opportunity to give the reassurance to Steve and his family, and to step in to save the life of a retired service animal means the world and we are very grateful to those how help us do the job we do, which is to take care of retired service animals in their golden years.”

Any funds raised over and above Frankie's needs will go towards helping other retired service animals the NFRSA supports.

Thank you so much for your kindness today, and please do tick the Gift Aid box if you are a UK taxpayer, as this will mean another 25% will be added to the total raised, which could help so many more animals in need.