Fort Wayne K-9 officers receive vests

Fort Wayne K-9 officers received bulletproof vests thanks to community fundraising.

Northeast Indiana will soon be a little safer, as four K-9 officers of the Fort Wayne Police Department will be wearing their new bulletproof vests that were donated thanks to community fundraising.

The officers who will be protected by the new equipment are Iskra, Lobo, Loki and Rizzo. It is likely that they are either German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, or a cross between them.

Not only are the vests bulletproof, but they are also stab-proof to protect the canine officers from potential wounds inflicted by knives.

Dog O’Day learned of this story from Fort Wayne TV station WANE.

From January to March, Dupont Veterinary Clinic hosted a fundraising effort to raise money for the vests, collecting a little over four thousand dollars in total.

The total amount raised came to $4,016.69.

“They just saw that there was a need and they reached out raised the funds for us and the public got behind it and very quickly raised the funds so I can’t say thank you enough,” FWPD K-9 Officer Chris Faherty told WANE. Faherty is the handler of Loki.

Fort Wayne is the home of Purdue-Fort Wayne, and Purdue Vet Med, on the main campus in West Lafayette, is one of the top-ranked vet schools in the country, and one of their annual fundraising events held each fall is the Purdue Dog Jog. That will be something to keep an eye out for if you’re a dog lover from or near the Indiana area.

Also for the baseball fans out there, Minor League Baseball traveling batdog Jake the Diamond Dog will be visiting the Fort Wayne TinCaps later this summer (see link for further details).

“We provide services in a different way most typically in a veterinary office so now we’re able to do it outside the practice also,”  Carrie Kuschel, Dupont office manager, told WANE.

Dupont is located at 11605 Coldwater Road in Fort Wayne, and they can be reached by phone at 260-637-7676.