K9 graduation held in Red Oak Friday, May 12

RED OAK – The Sector K9 Foundation Detection Dog graduation program will be held this Friday at the First Baptist Church in Red Oak at 10:30 a.m.

There will be several K9 detection dog teams from across the United States graduating during the ceremony this weekend.

Of those K9’s, however, one is special.

Red Oak Police Chief Garland Wolf said the dog, whose name is “Zero,” was saved from the Red Oak shelter by Animal Control Officer Amy Abernathy.  

“The dog had been in the shelter for some time and had not been adopted, so she referred the dog to the Sector K9 Foundation,” Wolf explained. 

“The dog was named Zero because she had zero days left in the shelter to live.”

She will be going to the Lexington, Missouri Police Department School District to do detection work. 

“This program allows departments to acquire a professionally trained animal at no charge,” Chief Wolf said. “For the animals, they get a job with purpose and a loving home. For departments, they get a trained resource and a community ambassador to help create conversations.”

The Red Oak Police Department hosted the two-week training course and is sponsoring the graduation event.

Wes Keeling, Managing Director and CEO of Sector K9 said, “We carefully select departments and handlers who share these values of community service. The dogs go on to detect guns and drugs, tackling some of the country’s biggest problems and being ambassadors for communities and police departments. Some of them work in schools, making sure that children can learn in a safe environment.” 

Sector K9 Foundation is a non-profit foundation who collaborates and works with various animal shelters, rescues and vendors to select dogs who have the willingness and focus to be a police detection K9. Animals selected and trained are provided to law enforcement agencies across the United States at no cost to their departments. This program is and has saved the lives of many unwanted animals and provided them with loving partners and a purpose for their respective communities. 

“This is an outstanding program for many reasons including community relations,” Wolf concluded.