RCMP tracking dog on mend after suspect allegedly stabbed him with stick and fled

An RCMP police dog with a stellar record of tracking suspects and locating lost citizens is on the mend after being stabbed while pursuing a man in Nova Scotia.

The police service says Fergus is "on the road to a full recovery" after his injury on July 22 during a search for a man suspected of stabbing a Bridgewater police officer.

Police have said that when an RCMP dog handler and Fergus located the man, the dog was stabbed with a stick and the suspect fled into the woods on foot.

A social media posting by the police force says Fergus received immediate treatment for the stab wound, fought off potential infections and is expected to return to duty in September.

Fergus was previously in the news in April, when he found a man and two small children who were missing in a wooded area of Colchester County in central Nova Scotia.

Thirty-one-year-old Tobias Doucette is facing charges of attempted murder of a police officer over the Bridgewater incident, and his lawyer recently requested a psychiatric assessment.

Doucette has been in custody since his arrest nearly a week after the alleged stabbing of the officer.

On July 27, he was charged with attempted murder, assault, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, mischief, theft of a motor vehicle, two counts of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and wounding a law enforcement animal.