K-9 Flash Named 2018 Law Enforcement Dog of the Year and Finalist for the 2018 American Hero Dog Award

COLLEGE STATION, Texas, July 31, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- K-9 Flash has been named the 2018 Law Enforcement Dog of the Year and is a finalist for the 2018 American Hero Dog Award in the national competition hosted by American Humane. K-9 Flash won $2,500 for her charity partner, K9s4COPs, who provides K9s to law enforcement agencies and schools.

American Humane Hero Dog Awards is an annual contest that honors "ordinary dogs who do extraordinary things," according to their website. The seven K-9 finalists will be flown to Hollywood with their owners where they will attend the American Humane Hero Dog Awards gala on September 29 and one will be named the 2018 American Hero Dog-- an award that wins an additional $5,000 for their charity partner. The K-9 with the most votes prior to the gala will determine the winner. The gala will broadcast on the Hallmark Channel in the fall. Voting for the 2018 American Hero Dog Award is open until September 5. To vote for K-9 Flash, please go to http://herodogawards.org/dog/k-9-flash/

K-9 Flash, a retired K9 officer and Project K-9 Hero ambassador went from a shelter puppy, deemed unadoptable, to becoming a successful Narcotics Detection Police K-9 with over 3,000 deployments and 2,200 narcotic related finds and seizures in her career. After serving from 2005-2013 with the Yakima Police Department (Washington), Flash retired once again needing a home. Her original handler and trainer, Jason Johnson, got the opportunity to adopt her after he had left for federal service and was teaching K-9 courses in Virginia.

K-9 Flash then inspired Jason to start a national non-profit, Project K-9 Hero, to help other retired Police K-9 and Military Working Dog Heroes with medical care, food, and death benefit assistance once they are no longer covered by the agencies they served. Their foundation has helped over 30 retired heroes with medical costs, and they have another 45 in waiting for financial assistance.

Jason and K-9 Flash now travel the nation reading her children's book, "K-9 Flash Becomes a Hero" to schools all across America. The book highlights Flash's true life story and that you can achieve anything in life regardless of where you started from. Jason and Flash believe that being named the Law Enforcement Dog of the Year by the American Humane benefits all of the heroes they serve through Project K-9 Hero-- not only today, but in the future.

"K-9 Flash and I would like to thank all of our supporters who helped her achieve the title of the 2018 Law Enforcement Dog of the Year. We are honored to represent the Law Enforcement Community and the Project K-9 Hero Foundation! Congratulations to all of the other finalists, we look forward to meeting each of you in Beverly Hills. There are no losers in an event like this and we would like to recognize all of the other Hero Dogs that we have competed against-- especially in the Law Enforcement category. Every dog is a winner when it comes to saving lives and serving our communities!", says Jason Johnson, Founder of Project K-9 Hero.

K9s4COPs was founded in 2010 by Texas Philanthropist, Kristi Schiller, to fund the donations of highly trained K-9s to law enforcement agencies and schools around the world. These donations offset the costs of budget cuts, which can deeply affect the K-9 unit. In 2014, Schiller founded the initiative K9s4KIDs, which provides trained K9s to schools and universities. Currently, K9s4KIDs donated K9s protect over one-million students on a daily basis.

Typically, each K-9 can cost in range of $15,000 to a specialized K9 that can value in excess of $35,000. These essential tools are often the first to fall to department budget cuts. To date, K9s4COPs has granted over 200 K9s to law enforcement agencies and schools in the United States as well as internationally to Paris, France. K9s4COPs has aided in the removal of over $250 million worth of contraband off the street. K9s4COPs canines have confiscated more than 4,500 firearms, participated in 7,500 arrests and helped keep the peace in over 4,000 public demonstrations.

"K9s4COPs congratulates K-9 Flash for winning the 2018 Law Enforcement Dog of the Year and thanks her for selecting us as her charity partner. Please help K-9 Flash win the 2018 American Hero Dog Award by voting every day, and please visit K9s4COPs.org to see how you can help provide more K-9s to law enforcement and schools around the United States," said Schiller, "Crime doesn't wait...why should you? We need your help."

K9s4COPs is funded through donations and community support. For more information, please visit http://www.K9s4COPs.org.

For more information about Project K-9 Hero, please visit http://www.ProjectK9Hero.org.

Kristi Schiller - Founder and Board Chair
[email protected]

Kortney Kruse – Communications
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Kristin Brown - Managing Director
[email protected]

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SOURCE K9s4COPs