Meet Our Heroes
Valiant
The Dog Who Was Ready to Go Back
1961–1967 | Vancouver Police Department | Canada
His name was Valiant.
A black-and-tan German Shepherd, Valiant was born on September 16, 1961, and became a certified police service dog around 1962.
His handler was Vancouver Police Constable Mike Wellman.
Police Dog Valiant and his handler, Constable Mike Wellman.
For years, they worked together.
Then, on December 18, 1967, they received the call that would make Valiant part of Vancouver Police history.
An Armed Man
Police were searching for Joseph McKenna, a 32-year-old escaped prisoner serving a life sentence for murder.
McKenna was armed.
He had said he would not be taken alive.
Police located him inside an apartment at 1460 Nelson Street in Vancouver and surrounded the building.
The Clifton Apartments, 1460 Nelson Street — the building where Valiant answered his final call.
Officers ordered him to surrender.
He refused.
When police opened the apartment door, two shots were fired from a bedroom.
The bullets struck the doorjamb only inches from officers.
Police returned fire.
Then Valiant and Wellman were called forward.
Find Him
Valiant entered the apartment.
Inside the bedroom, he found McKenna hiding beneath a bed.
Valiant went toward him.
McKenna fired.
Valiant yelped.
Wellman immediately called his dog back.
Valiant obeyed.
He returned to his handler and sat beside him.
Waiting for another command.
No one yet realized how badly he had been hurt.
Valiant's thick coat concealed the bullet wound.
He Didn't Have to Go Back
Police again ordered McKenna to surrender.
This time, he did.
McKenna later told police why.
He was afraid they would send the dog back into the room.
Valiant had already stopped the confrontation from going any further.
But his work was not finished.
As officers escorted McKenna from the building and toward a police car, Valiant stood guard.
Then Wellman saw the blood.
His dog had been shot.
Three Hours
Valiant was rushed to a veterinary hospital.
The bullet had caused devastating internal injuries.
His lung, liver, kidney and intestine had been damaged.
Veterinary surgeons operated on him for three hours.
They could not save him.
On December 18, 1967, Police Service Dog Valiant died from his wounds.
He was six years old.
Valiant became the first Vancouver Police service dog killed in the line of duty.
They Remembered Him
Valiant's service did not disappear with the newspaper reports of December 1967.
The Vancouver Sun posthumously presented him its Award of Merit for the most outstanding dog case of the year.
His name was later included among Canada's police service dogs killed in the line of duty.
And fifty years after his death, the City of Vancouver found another way to remember him.
In 2017, the city approved a street name honoring the police dog who had died in its service:
Valiant Street.
Waiting for the Next Command
Valiant could not have known what would happen after he entered that bedroom.
He found the armed man police were searching for.
He was shot.
His handler called him.
And Valiant came back.
With a wound hidden beneath his coat, he sat beside the person he had worked with for years.
The man inside the bedroom surrendered rather than face him again.
Valiant never had to go back through that door.
But when Wellman called him out—
Valiant was still ready for the next command.
His Legacy
Valiant | PSD #6117
German Shepherd
Vancouver Police Department
Born: September 16, 1961
Handler: Constable Mike Wellman
Certified: Approximately 1962
Final Call: December 18, 1967 | Vancouver, British Columbia
Killed: Line of Duty | December 18, 1967
Legacy: First Vancouver Police service dog killed in the line of duty
Remembered: Canadian Police Dog Memorial Honor Roll | Valiant Street, Vancouver
He came when he was called.
Even when it hurt.