Newport News, Va. - The Newport News Police Department has a new cadet.
She's only eight months old and weighs 80 pounds but in a couple more months she could be out saving lives.
Her name is Lacey. She's a bloodhound who's being trained for the department's search and rescue program. Her trainer Thomas Zeitler says she has a long ways to go though before she reaches the success level of her predecessor Isabel or 'Izzy.'
Izzy was Zeitler's partner for the past 11 years, but had to be put down recently due to cancer. Izzy and Zeitler helped save a handful of lives in their time together, including missing children and an old man with Alzheimer's who was lost out in the middle of winter two years ago.
Zeitler says it was hard putting down his best friend of the past decade, but says his work with Lacey is helping him move on. He says he will never try to replace or compare Izzy to another dog. He says it would be like trying to replace a child.
