In the Spring of 2002, I was watching an episode of America's Most Wanted and witnessed a video of a K-9 officer pursuing an armed criminal. The dog was shot, fell to the ground, got back up, and knocked the criminal down as the dog's police handler arrived at the scene. Shortly thereafter, the dog collapsed at the feet of his handler and died.

I was shocked. I had recently lost my own two beloved German shepherds to cancer, and I could feel the officer's pain at losing his four-legged partner. I couldn't believe that the police dog had no protection despite the dangerousness of the situation. I knew he would have survived if he had been wearing a protective vest.

The next day, I called my local police department and asked if they had vests for their police dogs. They said they had no funds to purchase vests for their dogs. I immediately set about raising money to purchase vests for their three K-9 officers. A few months later they added two more dogs, and I was able to get all five dogs vested.

This was the beginning of my passion and my crusade for police-dog protection. I founded Vest 'N P.D.P., Inc., with the goal of providing protective vests for as many K-9 police officers as possible nation wide. So far, Vest 'N P.D.P. has protected 706 police dogs in 43 states. But the need is still great, and our work continues, thanks to so many wonderful supporters.

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