Kid equips police dogs w/body armor

[PC Instructor]

Read the article HERE

Good job!!!

[Mitzi]

At our Citizen's Police Academy, the K9 handler that spoke to us said they find the bullet proof vests are hot for their dogs and actually slow them down in the field. They felt that, even if a dog was wearing one when shot, just the trauma from the bullet hitting the vest would fatally wound some of the organs in their body.

[PC Instructor]

I just thought it was cool that she changed the law.

[SWAT1]

Mitzi
Don't quite get that. I'll agree body armor would maybe slow down a dog and he would get hot in it, but my understanding is that the K9 armor is pretty much the same construction as for humans. As for blunt trauma injuries, are dogs thatdifferent from people?

[Mitzi]

Well, it made sense to me, Swat. The canine body is in many ways more delicate then a humans. I hope, as time goes on, they will come up with cooler, stronger vests for cops and K9's.

[Sgt. Slaughter]

Here's the website for the girl who did it first.
www.penniestoprotectpolicedogs.org

She started the organization in Florida. The website says over 150 vests have been given to police dogs.

F.Y.I. Our local Sheriff's Office has a vest for one of their dogs. They only wear it when they are deployed to do an apprehension or search a building. They aren't worn all the time like we wear ours.

[Don]

Originally posted by SWAT1:
Mitzi
As for blunt trauma injuries, are dogs thatdifferent from people?

Blunt trauma can (and often does) occur to an officer who has been shot in the chest while wearing a vest. It just does not often prove to be fatal.

With a dog, you don't have the body mass there (and this is just a guess) so I would think it could injure or kill them more often. However, IMHO every bit of protection you can get for your "partner" helps.

[ 04-12-2002: Message edited by: Don ]

[Joseph]

I think it's great that this little girl was persistent enough to lobby the politicians and have the law changed. Bravo.