FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. --
Fayette County Sheriff's Deputy Cody Benslay had a special bond with his partner, Arros.
"He was definitely like a family member to me. We did almost everything together, from sun up to sun down," said Benslay.
On Tuesday, the 5-year-old dog died from heat exhaustion after chasing four burglary suspects in a wooded area deputies said.
"We got the first two and there were two more, and we just kept going. Arros went until he couldn't go anymore," Benslay said.
Arros was airlifted to an animal hospital, but he died on the way. Deputies said every K-9 vehicle has an emergency kit in the back for use in an emergency.
"We use alcohol rather than water to cool them off because it evaporates so quickly, and dogs cool through evaporation," said Benslay.
On Tuesday, the alcohol and drinking water were too far away to save Arros.
"Unfortunately when emergencies happen, we can be more than 2 miles away from our vehicles," said Lt. Dan Thamert.
But the Sheriff's Office said that will not be an issue in the future.
"We are going to prepare an emergency kit and one of the local vets has agreed to give us a crash course in what we can do in the field to stabilize the dogs until we can get to an emergency center," said Thamert.
The deputies are expected to start training within a few weeks.
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