Police dogs to get bulletproof vests
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Such a cool idea, thought Enumclaw teen Katy Box and her friends. Police officers wear bulletproof vests, so why shouldn't their dogs get equal protection?
After a year of work — knocking on hundreds of doors, pleading for money outside a grocery store, hosting a garage sale — the three 14-year-old girls have finally raised $500 toward a canine vest for the King County Sheriff's Office.
"We thought it would be easy, and people would give a whole lot of money," Box said. "A lot of people just closed the door on us. They said they would rather put their donations toward helping people than helping dogs."
Too bad they didn't have a poster child like Cliff, the Lynnwood Police Department's patrol dog. The handsome German shepherd helped the Lynnwood Veterinary Center bring in an avalanche of donations totaling $8,500.
When pooled with the Enumclaw girls' $500, that's enough to buy protective vests for nine police dogs in King and Snohomish counties.
Box and her friends were to attend a ceremony today at the Lynnwood vet center, where the K9 Storm vests will be presented to five King County sheriff's dogs and to individual dogs from the Lynnwood, Everett, Edmonds and Monroe police departments.
King County sheriff's Capt. Bruce Booker said his department is "ecstatic" about getting five vests.
"After a while the dogs become almost like officers out there," he said. "They're a part of the team, and you don't want to see them unnecessarily put to risk."
Designed by a Canadian police constable, the $1,000, custom-fit vests are the Porsche of doggie duds, equipped with built-in harnesses so dogs can rappel from helicopters and down cliffs. When dogs sink their teeth into a bad guy in a tight hiding space, their handlers can help drag them out.
Earlier this week, Cliff tried on his 5-pound vest for the first time. Lynnwood Officer Dave Byrd handled the buckles, straps and sturdy zipper with relative ease, then watched with a bit of dismay as Cliff hopped, rather than ran, across the police parking lot. But as soon as the straps were loosened a tad, the shepherd was ready to rumble.
While bulletproof vests for dogs have been around for a decade, most police departments shied away from them until recent years. They were too expensive for tight public budgets, and officers worried the vests would be hot and bulky, encumbering their dogs in crucial situations.
Then in 1998, a New Jersey police dog named Solo was shot and killed by a fugitive, taking a bullet aimed at his human partner. Hundreds of mourners from four states attended Solo's funeral, and a national movement was born.
The Associated Humane Societies, based in Forked River, N.J., created the Vested Interest Fund, raising enough money to buy vests for every police dog in the state. That group buys and donates $475 one-size-fits-all vests made in California by International Armor.
"We're over the 500 (vest) mark, and we're still giving them out. I have six of them sitting under my desk," said program director Debbie Beyfuss. Whenever a New Jersey police dog graduates from training, it's given a vest, she said.
The movement shifted into the hands of schoolchildren in 1999, when a 10-year-old girl in Oceanside, Calif., heard about Solo and decided to raise money to buy a vest for her city's police dog, Tiko.
Stephanie Taylor's campaign drew so much media attention — and resulting donations — that she founded the nonprofit Vest-A-Dog program, which has donated International Armor vests to more than 200 dogs around the country and helps other young people create their own fund-raising programs.
Taylor, now 12, has been featured on "Oprah," in People magazine and in "Chicken Soup for the Preteen Soul." Her Web site, www.dogvest.com, draws about 100 information requests a week.
Three Spokane boys read about Taylor in "Times for Kids," a weekly school magazine, and in six months raised enough money to buy three dog vests for the Spokane Police Department last year.
"We all said it made us feel like a hero," said one of the boys, 11-year-old Ian Kellenborn of Spokane. "Knowing that we helped an animal so it won't be killed, it makes you feel good."
The Lynnwood campaign got a boost from a few generous donors such as Jennifer Bond of Kirkland. When she learned that Cliff's vest was already covered, she wrote a $1,000 check to purchase a vest for a King County sheriff's dog.
"This (creature) is willing to give up their life for their job and their handler; the least we can do is put a vest on them," Bond said.
Another woman walked into the Lynnwood Police Department and asked to see K-9 supervisor Sgt. Paul Hickok.
"She said, 'Today is my 87th birthday, and this is what I want to do for my birthday,' and she handed me five $100 bills and said, 'This is for Cliff,' " Hickok said.
Diane Brooks can be reached at 206-464-2567 or dbrooks@seattletimes.com.