Brighton DogWatch donates first aid kits to police dogs
BRIGHTON — Police dogs risk injury and illness when helping their officers protect and serve, that's why a Brighton business decided to supply Michigan State Police K-9 units with first aid kits made for dogs.
On Thursday, April 4, seven state troopers visited DogWatch Hidden Fences of Southeast Michigan, 112 E. Main St., and picked up 14 kits for K-9 units at state police posts across multiple counties in the region.
"My goal this year is we donate 50 kits," Corrie Gizicki of DogWatch's Brighton location said. "Police departments is where we’re starting."
State trooper Jeff Schrieber, with the Brighton post, picked up a kit with his K-9 Woodson, a four-year-old German Shepherd.
Schrieber said troopers carry first aid kits for humans in their patrol cars but aren't issued kits specifically for dogs.
"Half the stuff that's in (the canine kits) was strictly for canines, which we didn't have in our patrol cars," he said. "We would have to take them all the way up to Lansing, at the MSU veterinary clinic, in order to get their first aid treatments, but you don't know if you're going to make it that far."
He said police dogs face all sorts of hazards on the job, including barbed wire fences, exposure to hazardous chemicals or narcotics, vehicle crashes, even stabbings and shootings.
"They get put in situations or bad locations where they are at a higher risk to get injuried or get exposed," he said.
Gizicki said she discovered Dogworx brand medical kits when she attended a pet expo in Novi. She thought donating them to working dogs would be a good way for her hidden pet fence dealership to give back to the community.
She said as an emergency room nurse at Trinity Health Livonia Hospital she was impressed by how many useful materials the kits contain, including hydrogen peroxide, self-adhesive bandages, trauma shears, nail clippers, pumpkin powder for diarrhea and other first aid materials.
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"School therapy dogs is the next group of people we’ve thought of to help, and I'm open to other agencies and people who serve the community with dogs involved," she said.
She also reached out to DogWatch's corporate office to tell them about the kits and hopes other dealers might take her lead and donate some too.
— Contact reporter Jennifer Eberbach at jeberbach@livingstondaily.com.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton DogWatch donates first aid kits to police dogs
