Mass. Vest-A-Dog Keeping Police Dogs Safe Throughout the State

Twelve years ago, 11-year-old Bird Middle School student Lisa Hinds came to her mom Kathy with an article in American Girl Magazine about another 11-year-old girl who was raising money to purchase bulletproof vests for police dogs.

Inspired by the article Lisa told her mom she wanted to raise money to buy a vest for a K-9.

"That literally was our goal, one dog, one vest," said Hinds. "It was a great experience because she got a lot of her middle school friends involved and they found out they had a good time with it, they learned a lot, they met a police dog and people were very, very generous and it became possible for us to vest more than one dog."

From there the Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog program was born, right in Walpole, and they've been providing funding for police dogs and K-9 unit programs ever since.

From one vest the organization has grown immensely and raised over $110,000 last year alone.

“We don’t have any ties with law enforcement in our family, had never met a K-9, didn’t know anything other than they bite, but it’s so much more. Things like finding lost children or lost Alzheimer’s patients. You can’t put a price tag on that," said Kathy, who now runs the organization while Lisa is away at college.

Protecting and Serving

The vests, which weigh about 4 lbs., go around a dog's torso and can protect the animal's vital organs from bullets, knives and blunt trauma.

"Whether it’s a fist or a foot or whatever might be handy like a fire poker, for example, or a chair we’ve heard being used against a dog. So if at the end of the day the dog can go home with a bad bruise it’s a lot better than a broken rib and a punctured lung,” Hinds said.

The vests go to K-9's all across Massachusetts to all levels of law enforcement, from local police forces to the sheriff’s department to state agencies, such as State Police and the Department of Corrections.

The State Police is the largest K-9 agency in Massachusetts with over 45 dogs and the Mass. Vest-A-Dog program has vested all of them, some more than once.

Last year, they provided 20 SWAT vests and 45 traditional vests across the state.

More Than Just Vests

Since September of last year, the organization added to their mission and now raises money for equipment, training and the purchase of dogs.

The vests range in price from $1,000-$2,400. Bite suits, used by handlers to train the dogs, cost between $600-$1,375. Outfitting a police vehicle for a dog costs about $1,500-2,000.

All-in-all, Hinds said, it costs between $10,000-$20,000 to start a K-9 program.

Since expanding their purview, Mass. Vest-A-Dog gives grants to police departments looking to add a K-9 unit to their force.

Hinds said they want to see K-9 units throughout the state get the funding they need “because K-9 is expensive and a lot of times it’s funded only with donations or it has a very fragile budget to begin with. So how can we help aid that and make it a viable option for a lot of communities that might not otherwise have it?”

Collecting Bones

The group has helped fund new K-9 units in Holliston, Salem, Douglas, Blackstone and Marlborough.

They raise money by selling calendars and merchandise such as tee shirts, mugs and hats. They also utilize other more non-traditional ways of raising funds.

“We’ve had a lot of really creative things, like a couple just got married and in lieu of wedding gifts they asked people to do a donation,” she said.

One donor climbed Mt. Washington in an effort to raise money for the non-profit.

Even a little girl for her 10th birthday said that instead of gifts she wanted donations and raised $500.

Man's Best Friend

Hinds believes that keeping the dogs safe makes for a safer community.

“Because they protect us, in a nutshell. Police dogs fulfill a law enforcement role that humans simply can’t,” said Hinds.

She said that dogs are able to clear a scene in certain situations more efficiently than humans and they can also sniff for drugs and bombs, something their bipedal partners cannot do.

“It’s fun!," she said when asked why she does it. "We meet people and dogs and officers and K-9’s all over the state. We go to a lot of fun events and to know that we’re having a little impact on helping keep communities safe.”

To find out more about Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog or to make a donation visit their website: http://www.mavestadog.org/ws/pages/home.php.