Winnipeg police Const. Brad Gillespie's partner is back on the beat, more than a year after undergoing major back surgery followed by nearly a year of rehabilitation.

Utah, a Belgian Malinois and a police dog, had the surgery as the result of injuries incurred in the line of duty.

Const. Brad Gillespie sits with his partner, Utah, who's back on the job after major spinal surgery.
(CBC)

Gillespie, Utah's handler of six years, said Thursday that the canine's problems started during a police chase about two years ago.

"We start tracking and we tracked for quite a distance, and the individual was trying to elude us by running along the top of fences — like high fences and sheds — to try to disrupt the track," Gillespie recalled.

"It was the wintertime, so things were fairly slippery. When we got to one of the sheds, it was icy on the top, and Utah slid off the top of the shed and I slid off as well and landed on him."

Utah continued to have problems until finally, it was decided that he needed expensive and rare spinal surgery for what was diagnosed as degenerative lumbosacral disease.

The surgery would normally cost about $6,000, while a new police puppy would have cost $5,000.

But instead of retiring Utah and adopting a new puppy, the head of surgery at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan operated on Utah, as part of ongoing resarch on canine back surgery.

Gillespie (left) demonstrates Utah's skills with another Winnipeg police officer on Thursday.
(CBC)

The more difficult part of Utah's journey back to health was the recovery, which involved fitting him with a neck brace and head shield.

"[We] put him in a tiny crate and he had to lie still in the crate and couldn't come out of the crate — except to use the washroom — for several months in order to allow his spine to heal, because we couldn't put him in a body cast," Gillespie said.

"Basically it was a very sad time. He had no wind left in his sails."

Gillespie said Utah, who has recently returned to work, has since recovered to about 98 per cent of his former capacity.