K9 Veterans Day Celebration March 11-13

You know we LOVE LOVE LOVE our K9 working dogs, so naturally we’re going to celebrate and honor working dogs the weekend of K9 Veterans Day, March 11-13. Here’s what we’ve got brewing.

Fundraising for the K9 Teams

Working with the Georgia Police K9 Foundation, we’ve identified two specific needs for our local K9s:

1. Heat Alarms (example, $2,000 – $3,000 installed) – General Lee and Punxsutawney Phil may have disagreed on February 2, but one of them was right: spring is basically here. Georgia summers are hot, and these brave K9s can withstand a lot, but they cannot take overheating. K9 Handlers have to leave their vehicles from time to time, and one is too many K9 Officers dying of heat stroke in a patrol vehicle. These heat alarms, installed in the K9 Patrol Vehicles, alert the Police Officer when the patrol vehicle is too warm for the health of the dog. Our goal is to fund TWO (2) of these Heat Alarms.
2. Street Fighter Vests ($400 – $1,200) – The K9 Officer is usually the first to arrive at the perpetrator’s position, and thus the first to take fire or other weapon when the perpetrator is cornered. Without protection, like our soldiers and police officers wear, the K9 is vulnerable to whatever weapons a criminal may try to use to fend off arrest. Our goal is to fund 3 of these Street Fighter Vests.

Does that add up to over $5,000 for you? It does for me, but I know we can do it. Last Labor Day, you raised over $8,500 to help cover K9 Jerry Lee’s medical expenses. Will you join us K9 Veterans Day weekend, March 11 – 13, to outfit these K9 Officers with the equipment they need?

Here’s how we’re going to do it. You might have some fun 🙂

Friday Night: Tennis Ball Competition!

Friday Night from 6PM – 8:PM, we’re having a “Tennis Ball Shootout.”  Why tennis balls? Because dogs love tennis balls! Ever try shooting a tennis ball with a 9MM pistol? Ever try shooting a tennis ball off the top of a pool noodle? It’s not easy, but it is fun.

The tournament will be best two of three, single elimination. You’ll be competing one-on-one with another random shooter, and your results will (hopefully) look something like the video below. The entry fee to the tournament is $25 per person, and all profits from the tournament go towards the GPK9F fundraising goals above.

The winner gets…(keep reading!)

What’s the winner get? The winner wins a Shadow Systems DR920, equipped with a SureFire XH30 weapon light and a SureFire MasterFire Pro Holster. You read that right. 🙂 Now get your Friday night on!

Saturday: All the K9 Teams!

Saturday, we’ll have all the dogs. OK, maybe not all of them, but K9 Flash, K9 Pandora, K9 Dane and a few others you may know will be at the store all day, accepting your loving sacrifice of petting them and giving them treats. We’ll clean up the hair and slobber later. 🙂

You’ll also get to experience…

• A K9 Officer Bite Demonstration – one lucky fan will get to don a bite suit and feel exactly how powerful these K9s really are, from their powerful back legs to their deadly jaws! Will you volunteer?!?
• K-9 seminars lead by Deputy First Class Steven Challinger – Deputy Challinger will be in the classroom delivering all the info you’ve ever wanted to know about what goes in to breeding and training up a successful K9 Officer. It’s fascinating how much training these dogs get, and they LOVE it! They love doing what they are trained to do.
• K9 SWAG – lots and lots of K9 Officer SWAG for you to take home and spread the word about how great these K9 Officers and their handlers are, but also how much they need our help and support.

All Weekend: Everyone Shoots Free!

All day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of K9 Veterans Day weekend, everyone shoots for free (no lane fees). We’ll be offering regular paper targets and – you guessed it – tennis ball targets for $10. Every dollar of revenue from the sale of targets goes straight to the Georgia Police K9 Foundation to purchase Heat Alarms and Street Fighter Vests for these K9s.

Every target you purchase puts you in the Saturday or Sunday raffle drawing for one of two Sgt of Arms AR-15 rifles that we are giving away.

K9 Veterans Day Weekend

Let’s sum up:

• Everyone shoots free all weekend: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
• All targets (paper or tennis ball) are $10.
• Every target you buy on Friday & Saturday puts you in the drawing for a brand new AR-15 on Saturday
• Every target you buy on Sunday puts you in the drawing for a brand new AR-15 on Sunday
• The winner of the Friday Night Tennis Ball Shootout wins a Shadow Systems DR920, equipped with a SureFire XH30 weapon light and a SureFire MasterFire Pro Holster.
• We all come together as a community and get these K9 Heroes the gear they need to win!

Compete, donate, love on the doggies, help the doggies, win a sweet firearm. Everybody wins.

Let’s celebrate and honor our K9 Working Dogs. See you Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.