Welcome to the Pa K9 Assistance Foundation!

 Mike and Kim Decher founded the Pa K9 Assistance Foundation in 2010.  

 The idea for this Foundation was born from a combination of their passions as dog and animal owners, owners of a small business, and Mike’s career as a dedicated local Police Officer in Bucks County Pennsylvania.   

It was through these passions that they found a way to give back to their community.  Initially, Kim established an internal sales campaign within her business to purchase a ballistic vest for a local Police K9.  The sales campaign assessed a percentage of the sale of the business’ pet related items and gift baskets towards this cause and took approximately two years to accrue enough funds to purchase one vest at retail cost.  

 Mike and Kim had already conducted substantial research into reestablishing his department’s K9 Unit.  They established several industry contacts during this research that helped to bring their cause closer to reality.  An association with several sub-organizations under the Vest-a-Dog organization offered the ability to purchase multiple ballistic and stab resistant K9 vests at a reduced cost.  Once this ability was established the next step was figuring out who would receive the two vests.   

In contacting several of the local K9 handlers to determine who would need and want one of these vests, Mike also posed the question, “What else do you guys need that your department either cannot or will not provide?”  Needless to say, most of the responses and requests were endless with all citing that their Units operate on a limited budget and their departments cannot afford to provide or replace many of the items that they need to effectively be able to do their jobs.  The requests ranged from training equipment such as leads, harnesses, muzzles and bite suits to ballistic vests, overdose kits for narcotics dogs, ear pieces and microphones for the handlers.  Most of the requests were for heat monitors and warning systems for their patrol vehicles. 

 The common denominator for all these units was insufficient funding.  Insufficient funding for these handlers caused them to either make due with either a lack of equipment, poor equipment, or for them to purchase needed equipment out of their own pocket.  Through all the research conducted by Mike and Kim, there is no organization currently existing that is dedicated to providing the type of equipment that these essential units need at no cost to them until now.  

  With the assistance of friends from High Octane Dog Agility, Vest-A-Dog, and Fox Rothschild, LLC, they have initiated the formation of a non-profit organization under the name of the Pa K9 Assistance Foundation.

    This foundation is 501(c)(3)