K9 Pepper is unique since she has been trained to locate guns, bombs and other explosive materials. She and her handler, Deputy J.P. Melton received training by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and have been an extremely valuable asset to our community.
If you missed the Canine for K9s Event and would like to make a donation to the K9 Unit to help offset the costs of purchasing and training a new K9 (approximately $10,000) when Pepper retires or help the handlers purchase equipment for the K9s and attend training our budget might not be able to cover, you can send donations to:
Spokane County Sheriff’s Office K9 Unit
1100 W. Mallon
Spokane, WA 99260
or email Devra Brown at [email protected] if you would like additional information.
Here’s a great article written by Scott Maben at the Spokesman Review regarding K9 Pepper and the Canine for K9s Event.
Community gives ‘attaboy’ to Spokane County Sheriff’s K-9 Unit
Ten years into his career, Pepper is nearing retirement from the Spokane County Sheriff’s K-9 Unit. Replacing the black Lab with a newly trained police dog will cost the county about $10,000.
To help cover the expense – and heap appreciation on the unit’s force of six dogs and six handlers – a crowd of a couple hundred turned out Sunday for the third annual Canines for K9s event at Mirabeau Meadows in Spokane Valley.
Sponsored by the Sheriff’s Community Oriented Policing Effort, the gathering was part fundraiser to support the county’s K-9 unit, part social for dogs and their human companions, and part demonstration of the skills of the sheriff’s six K-9s. Several of the dogs took turns showing how they track and apprehend fleeing suspects, find hidden drugs and sniff out shell casings, among other specialties.
Read the full SR article with photos at the link provided below.