Law enforcement patrol and detection dogs are routinely exposed to hazardous situations in the course of carrying out their duties and protecting the community. Some of the many dangers police dogs face are the possibility of injury from searching in challenging terrain, the possibility of a suspect with a weapon, heat exhaustion, and exposure to toxic chemicals. Anaheim Police Department K-9 Bruno and several other California police dogs (K9s Bodie, Drago, and Thor, to name a few) have been injured in the line of duty in the past few years.
The Silicon Valley-based Cover Your K-9 Fund of the Police and Working K-9 Foundation is using the latest high-tech materials, design, and training to protect hard-working police dogs while they are on the job by providing essential safety equipment such as bullet-proof vests, heat sensors for patrol cars, and custom K-9 trauma kits.
During the Cover Your K-9 Emergency Medicine Course, K-9 handlers team up to learn emergency care and CPR with furry dog mannequins called “resusci-dogs,” as well as with live “demo dogs.” Veterinarians, Veterinary Technicians, and other Cover Your K-9 Volunteers throughout California spend many hours making sure the course is a great success.
To help the officers learn essential splinting and bandaging skills, the highly-trained and very patient search-and-rescue dogs from local Sheriff SAR K-9 Units FEMA and CARDA teams act as “demo dogs” and offer their paws up so the handlers can practice these skills.
“Learning and practicing the skills in a controlled environment prepares the officers for handling any medical emergency that they may face with their dogs in the field,” according to Linda Lasky RVT, Police and Working K-9 Foundation Veterinary Liaison.
In April, ninety K9 handlers – from local Bay Area Police & Sheriff departments, the CHP, California Parks and East Bay Park Police, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the U.S. Marshal’s Service, and others – attended the latest Cover Your K-9 Emergency Medicine Course at the Alameda County Sheriff’s Training Facility and received Cover Your K9 Trauma Kits at no charge.
These kits have been designed with the help of veterinary specialists at Sage Centers for Specialty and Emergency Care and the Military Working Dog Vets at Travis Air Force Base, and even include oxygen masks specially made for dogs. The custom Cover Your K-9 trauma bags, with wheels and pop-up handles, contain many items not available in commercial kits. They are provided at no charge for K-9 officers to carry in their patrol car so they can provide rapid first aid care to their police dog partners in emergencies.
“These dogs are not just our valuable law enforcement partners, they are cherished family members, and we are deeply appreciative of the help in protecting them,” said Officer Alex Jose, Chairman of the Police & Working K-9 Foundation and a long-time K-9 handler for the Oakland Police Department.
During training at Fort Ord this past fall K-9 Leco cut the back of his right front leg on a sharp object. At first it looked like a minor cut and Soledad Police Department K9 handler Officer Lionel Munguia led his dog to his patrol car where he had his Cover Your K9 Trauma Kit in the trunk. After arriving at the car, he noticed that the blood flow was severe and he quickly applied Combat Gauze, a specialized gauze bandage, around his dog’s leg, struggling to apply adequate pressure.
Dr. Greg Marsolais of Pet Emergency Specialists, who helped save K-9 Leco’s life by repairing his severed artery and providing additional blood from donors, said that Leco would have died from blood loss had his handler not had the Cover Your K-9 emergency training and special trauma supplies on hand.
When Officer Munguia attended the Cover Your K-9 emergency medicine course at Pet Food Express headquarters two years before the incident, he could not have imagined that the free training and special Cover Your K-9 Trauma Kit provided would one day help to save his canine partner’s life.
With budget cuts affecting so many local K-9 units, Pet Food Express wanted to help the Police and Working K-9 Foundation with its mission and has hosted the Annual Cover Your K-9 fundraiser each year since its inception in 2009. Thousands of pet owners and animal lovers have rallied together at Pet Food Express locations to raise funds to help keep California police dogs safe – raising more than $500,000 for this purpose over the past five years.
The Cover Your K-9 Program has helped protect more than 250 police dogs in California with special bullet-proof vests, supplied forty-five K-9 teams with new heat sensors for their patrol cars, and assisted many retired dogs with emergency veterinary care.
Now more than five hundred K-9 handlers have received the advanced first aid training and custom Cover Your K-9 Trauma Kits to help keep their police dogs safe. This year an innovative new mini K-9 Stat Pack (which can be carried by officers on their belts) will be introduced for inclusion with the trauma kits.
On July 12-13, one hundred officers will come out to introduce their hard-working police dogs and meet the public at the 2014 Cover Your K-9 fundraiser at all Pet Food Express stores. Dog wash fees and donations will all go to protect their local K9 teams.
Louse V. Tully is President and Co-Founder of he The Police & Working K-9 Foundation, a California non-profit, all-volunteer “startup” that works to keep law enforcement K-9 teams safe with innovative technology and training. Its state of the art Cover Your K-9 Bullet-proof Vests and K-9 Trauma Kits are designed and manufactured in California.
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Main article photo by: Mark Rogers Photography
