[November 22, 2009] Dogtopia donates gear to keep police K-9s safe Tweet Nov 22, 2009 (News and Messenger - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Prince William police K-9 Unit now has specialized equipment that will make it easier for aerial police support to coordinate with the fast-moving canine teams during tracks of criminal subjects, thanks to the owners of two Dogtopia franchises and dozens of people who gave their time or money to help the K-9 Unit. Dogtopia--a business with locations in Woodbridge and the Manassas area--donated a canine ballistic vest, a training sleeve and cuffs, and strobe lights for each dog-and-handler team. "Our franchiser has a nonprofit group called Canine Support that raises funds for dogs used in the military and in public-safety," said Suzanne Fitzpatrick of the Manassas area Dogtopia. She and Amber Sutton of the Woodbridge Dogtopia said they decided to hold a fundraiser for the Prince William K-9 Unit. So last July, the two businesses hosted a "dog wash" with a suggested donation of $10. "Once people knew that it was to help the police department, they gave so much more than the sug-gested donation," Fitzpatrick said. Sutton added, "We had lots of people volunteer their time to help wash dogs, which was nice to see." The two locations raised enough money to buy a canine ballistic vest for Koda, a dog who specializes in explosives detection; a new training sleeve and several cuffs that are used by the entire K-9 Unit during training exercises and demonstrations; and strobe lights used by the handlers so that police helicopters involved in tracking criminal suspects can see the canine teams. "We greatly appreciate everything that Dogtopia did in helping the unit," said 1st. Sgt. Greg Pass, the K-9 Unit supervisor. "We also thank those individuals who brought their pets out in support of us." --Submitted by Prince William County Police Department To see more of the News & Messenger or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.insidenova.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, News and Messenger, Manassas, Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]