Among the many services that the FSDS provides to the community is the training and certification of facility dogs for agencies that serve crime victims, particularly child victims. The FSDS is proud to announce that we will be providing a Level II Facility Dog to the Peoria Police Department to work in their new K9 Victim Assistance Program.
The Peoria PD will be awarded a purebred male Golden Retriever named “Shadow”, a sweet and gentle dog. Shadow’s future handler, Detective Gretel Hopkins, is already hard at work to master all commands and knowledge necessary to build a strong working relationship with Shadow, and a firm knowledge base upon which the police department may grow it’s program.
One of the things that makes this so special is that this dog, who is expected to benefit literally thousands of crime victims and officers over the course of it’s career, is being raised by a local teen in our training program. Amanda Van Asdall is just 15 years old and this is the third dog that she is training for the FSDS. Her 12 year old sister, Abigail, is assisting with the training. This is just another wonderful example of how we strive to empower youths to help change the world for the better.
Shadow, and the officer training, is being provided at no out-of-pocket cost to the police department, however funds are still needed to assist with this vital service. To find out how you can help, contact us.
