VPI Gets a Visit and Gives Back to Courageous K9s

Here at VPI, we get our fair share of visits from our furry, four-legged friends. However, on Tuesday, October 2, we were honored to have K9 Officers Falkon and Habo of the Placentia, Calif., Police Department, along with their human counterparts, Officer Chris Anderson, Officer Mike Williams and Lieutenant Alexander pay us a visit of gratitude.

Falkon is a Belgian Malinois who was bred in Slovakia and came to the Placentia P.D. as an 18-month-old puppy. Now almost 7 years old, Falkon uses his amazing sense of smell to search buildings and detect narcotics.

Falkon

Falkon

Habo, an 18-month-old German shepherd from Slovakia recently finished his first 5-week police training course. In order to continue working, all police dogs must continue training, which includes a 5-hour course each week and a 10-hour training day each month.

Habo

Habo

“Most people think that police dogs come to us trained,” said Officer Anderson. “The reality is police dogs don’t know how to do any police work prior to going through the training courses, which are ongoing and very strict.”

Officer Falkon is a recent recipient of a donated bullet/stab-proof vest from VPI’s Employee Contribution Committee (ECC). In addition to donating the vest to K9 Officer Falkon and the Placentia P.D., the ECC was also able to provide a protective vest for K9 Officer Falco from the Hampden County, Massachusetts Department of Corrections.

“The vest VPI donated is very helpful, especially with anything SWAT-related,” said Officer Anderson. “Our entire department can’t thank VPI enough.” Our donation was made possible through an organization called Vested Interest in K-9s, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to providing protective vests for police dogs across the nation. According to its website, most law enforcement agencies do not have the funding required to provide safety vests for their K-9 officers. Here at VPI, we know just how much trouble dogs can get into when they aren’t fighting crime or saving lives, which is why we feel it’s important to provide whatever protection we can – be it a bullet proof vest to our hometown hero or pet insurance for the brave search and rescue dogs that served our country in the wake of a national tragedy.

As a way of showing appreciation for all that these courageous canines and their honorable owners do, VPI offers a five percent discount on pet insurance to military, police, firefighters and other sworn officers.

For more information about K9 Crime Fighters, including what they do to stay busy when they aren’t on the job, please visit the VPI Pet HealthZone.