WISH

“ ey’re a nationwide nonpro t organization that donates ballistic armor, Narcan and life-saving kits speci cally to police dogs all over the country for no cost to the handler or the agency,” said Graham.

According to Vested Interest in K9s, the organization has donated more than 4,948 K-9 ballistic vests since 2009.

To receive a vest, the dog has to be a current certi ed working police dog, at least 20 months old and they can’t be one year away from retirement, said Graham.

Each year, the organization chooses 12 dogs that they’ve donated a vest to and their handlers to be in the calendar.

“If I can return the favor and help them out and kind of get their business name more out there to public knowledge, then I’m all for it,” said Graham.

Kato is a 7 year old German Shepherd Belgian Malinois mix and has been partners with Graham for over ve years.

Originally from Slovakia, Kato came to California at just over a year old to Gold Coast K9 where he started with drug work obedience training.

Graham got Kato when he was 18 months old.

“I spent a month out in California, training me on how to be a good partner with him,” said Graham.

After initially being certi ed in California, Graham and Kato came back to Colorado where they have continued drug training. According to

Graham, they train all the time with at least two days of the month dedicated to training days.

“He, I’m sure, saved my life more times than I’ll ever know,” said Graham.

Kato is also certi ed in human tracking and article searches.

In addition to school and public demonstrations and teaching classes on what K-9 teams do, Kato has served Parker by aiding in drug arrests and nding weapons used in commission of crimes.

“He has helped me make arrests that I would have never been able to make without him,” said Graham. “Cases getting solved where he has recovered evidence during an article search that probably never would have been solved without him locating evidence.”