San Jose police officers on Sunday morning found a missing Fremont police dog that went missing overnight.
The dog — named Niko — escaped from his secure yard in San Jose's Willow Glen area between 10 p.m. and midnight Saturday, police said. He was discovered in a creek bed near Almaden Expressway and Branham Lane, Fremont police said in a tweet. [[321179751, C]]
According to police, Niko is 16 months old, weighs 85 lbs. and has an ear tattoo. He was wearing a metal collar but no name tag.
Having spent only a few weeks with Fremont police, Niko is the department's newest police dog. His handlers believed his "natural instinct would be to return to his original training home of Czechoslovakia, so he is likely roaming and lost," a department statement said.
Officers from the Fremont and San Jose police departments went from yard to yard, searching for Niko, according to the statement. They were also assisted by volunteer search-and-rescue teams, police said.
Fremont police requested people who saw Niko to call 911 instead of approaching him. They later took to social media to clarify that he was not believed to be aggressive, only scared. [[321178221, C]]
