This story is a little late in coming from us but, still very much worth reporting. The Klays for K9’s benefit was held on October 14 & 15th in Sealy, Texas. Klays for K9’s is an annual fundraiser for the K9 Officers Organization [www.k9officers.org] that works to assist local police and sheriff departments in obtaining K9 units. They are a non-profit organization that finds quality dogs, pays for their training and necessary equipment and then donates them free of charge. They also provide support to the handler for the K9’s they donate throughout the K9’s lifetime. The organization is solely supported by donations.
A K9 can cost upwards of $12,000 each once training and equipment are supplied so, each donation of dogs by the organization is no small thing. The organization was founded by Rocky and Shannon Smith who have been running it since its inception in 2000 when the Smiths donated their first dog. The organization has grown from there ever since. They work with Houston K9 Academy [www.houstonk9academy.com] which provides all of the training for the dogs as well as assists in finding prospective dogs that are suitable for the rigorous needs required of a police k9 unit. Dogs are trained in a number of duties from drug detection, bomb detection, suspect takedown and defensive needs by the police officers.
This year’s Klays for K9’s fundraiser was held at Texas Premier Sporting Arms [www.texaspremiersportingarms.com] located in Sealy, Texas between Sealy and Wallis. The facility offers guests the chance to take part in “sporting clays” which is a challenging clay target game designed to simulate field shooting. On a Sporting Clays course, shooters are presented with a wide variety of targets that duplicate the flight path of game-birds, such as flushing, crossing, incoming and other angling shots. The courses are laid out in 30 “stations” with shooters moving from one station to the next to complete the course. Each “station” presents shooters with a different type of shot.
The Klays for K9’s benefit allows for individuals and teams to pay an entry fee and compete against one another. There is plenty of food, an auction, live demonstrations by some of the K9 units already in the field, as well as fun and fellowship. The event takes place over two days. The first day is for practicing with the actual competition starting the following day. This year saw quite a few applicants with officers coming from as far as Louisiana and Indiana to take part. Our first video below is our overview video of the event. The video below it is of the police dog demonstrations showcasing the K9’s training by members from the Houston K9 Academy. Enjoy and please share with others to help promote this great organization and annual fundraiser!