Not only do we sell personal insurance and business insurance, but we have a love of dogs -- K-9s in particularly!
Puppy Love
Our agency love for K-9s started back in August 2015, when we heard about a unique opportunity to support our local law enforcement K9s. Up until that time period, we assumed the police departments were the only ones who were able to provide K-9s a uniform, as they provided their officers. This is not true!
Back in the Day
Starting August 2015, we have met some amazing K-9s, their handlers, trainers, and other officers in the field. In conjunction with a local Olmsted Falls, OH annual festival - Heritage Days, we brought community awareness to this need through K-9 Dog Demos (which are pretty amazing!), K-9 bullet and stab protection vest presentations, and everyone's favorite the "meet and greet," where you can interact with these amazing working dogs on a personal level.
It's All About Protection
These vests come with a few requirements. Vested Interest in K9s is a great organization to work with, particularly if you want to work with providing donations to sponsor a particular K-9 and/or department. The K-9s must qualify for the ballistic vest per Vested Interest in K9s, Inc.:
- Must be actively employed in the US (no military K-9s)
- K-9 must be certified with their current handler
- K-9 must be at least 20 months old (they should be near full grown at this point)
- K-9 must not have a current issued ballistic vest
- K-9 must not be scheduled for retirement
One of the biggest hurdles we have come across is waiting until they are 20 months old -- but this is to ensure the vest is tailored for a grown dog versus a growing dog. The vests need to fit a certain way to be effective as possible to avoid injury.
Past Meets Future
The picture below shows a few of the K-9s we have vested since 2015, and our future recipients. We are excited to continue to be a part of these great organizations and helping keep our local law enforcement K-9s protected.
Left to Right: Officer Shelter & Rogue; Officer Collins & Chase; Officer Simko & Zeke; Officer Daugherty & Gauge; Patrolman Ward & Jaq; K-9 Trainer and owner of B.A.R.K. (Buckeye Area Regional K9), Tom Schmidt; Officer Crock & Gunnar; Kindra and Ron Smith, representing Consultative Insurance Group, Inc. (Photo Courtesy of Easler Photography)
Olmsted Falls Police Department Recipient
K-9 Gauge of the Olmsted Falls Police Department in Ohio is the recipient of a bullet and stab protective vest through Consultative Insurance Group's generous donation to Vested Interest in K9s, Inc for 2020, and we will be doing an online version of his receiving his bullet and stab protection vest. K-9 Gauge is a twenty one month old Belgian Malinois certified in narcotics and patrol. He is assigned to Officer Daugherty of the Olmsted Falls Police Department in Olmsted Falls, OH. K-9 Gauges loves his ball and will play from sun-up to sun-down. Gauge does not like baths.
Cleveland.com recently did a story on K-9 Gauge and his vest. See that story here.
Other local K-9s we have vested:
- 2019 - K-9 Jaq (Warrenville Heights)
- 2018 - K-9 Creed (Cleveland MetroParks)
- 2017 - K-9 Tyson (retired)
- 2016 - K-9 Chase (Cleveland MetroParks)
- 2015 - K-9 Gunnar (Stark County, OH)
- 2015 - K-9 Rico (retired)
Show Your Support
We are currently working on a T-shirt design -- with all proceeds to go to B.A.R.K. (Buckeye Area Regional K9). Tom and Kathy Schmidt have a passion for these dogs! Tom works with the officers and K9s for 8 hours of intense training each week. This year, we were allowed to be part of the action and see the training first hand! They put the dogs to different types of training in different locations -- from finding hazardous materials hidden inside a building to capturing the bad guy -- they are constantly in motion--transitioning to the next drill set. Personally, we are thankful for the skill training series they go through each week, as they help protect you and me!
Interested in learning more about partnering up with Consultative Insurance Group, Inc. for future recipients? Send us an email here.