This year’s tournament of roses parade will mean a lot to canine patrols and houstonians.  K9s4COPs.org will be featured on one of the parade floats.  Here’s the back story on the one-of-a-kind local non-profit.

It is no easy feat to get a float in the new year’s day tournament of roses parade.  This year a local Houston charity will be part of the impressive line-up

If you watched this year’s tournament of roses parade, you might have seen a bit of Houston represented.  Local non-profit, K9s4COPs, was featured on one of the floats.   More about how the impressive organization got started.

An impressive  non-profit makes it into this year’s tournament of roses parade and takes the honors of “Fan Favorite”

“Dreams Come True” at the 125^th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade. They really, really do. 

I’m sitting here, with tears in my eyes, in awe of the sight before me in the staging warehouses of Fiesta Parade Floats as K9s4COPs comes to life in floral splendor. The K9s4COPs float honors those who work toward building safer communities—the gallant K9s and the men and women with whom they serve.

With my personal protection dog and constant companion Johnny Cash at my side, I’m watching with pride as he comes to life in meticulous detail. Lifelike fur made from seeds and grasses painstakingly placed in a 22-foot molded form—it’s somewhat surreal to look from the dog at my side to one coming to life before my eyes.

My dream is coming to life, and I’m overjoyed. And, it’s amazing to think that this is all born from tragedy three years ago….

Harris County Precinct 4 Deputy Constable Ted Dahlin will be riding with us on the float with K9 Daisy, but the officer he credits with saving his life—K9 Blek will be with us only in spirit.

Killed in action while chasing a robbery suspect in late December 2010, it was K9 Blek’s heroism and tragic loss that has brought us here today, to this moment. Come the morn of January 1, the world will learn of his gallant sacrifice and how many lives he has saved since his death.

K9 Blek’s death and Ted’s loss haunted me. A consummate animal lover, I knew and understood the dog and human bond. I knew I couldn’t repair the hole left by K9 Blek in Ted’s life, but I could make his memory worth something and make sure more K9s were available to keep our law enforcement officers and our communities safe.

Trained K9s don’t come cheap, ranging between $10,000 and $15,000. Through the generous donations, K9s4COPs has placed than 60 dogs to law enforcement agencies and school districts. When you consider that just one dog alone confiscated more than $6 million in drugs last year, imagine that times 60! They have a tremendous impact, from detecting drugs and explosives to protecting our children in schools—and making sure that officers go home to their families at night.

The Tournament of Roses Parade offers us an unprecedented opportunity to share with the world how value, how important K9s are to our communities. The parade offers K9s4COPs more exposure than we ever thought possible with nearly million attendees along the 5.5 mile long route to more than 100 million television viewers worldwide.

Not only is the Tournament of Roses Parade great for sharing our mission, it’s just plain old fashioned fun. It’s been a treasure to share this experience with my husband John and daughter Sinclair as well as my dedicated K9s4COPs team—P+R Productions President Jenna Jackson and her husband K9s4COPs board member Brendan Gilbert, K9s4COPs Executive Director Liz Lara Carreno and her husband Hector, Deputy Constable Dahlin and his wife Jackie and their children Emily and Cole, Harris County Sheriff’s Office Sargent Mike Thomas and his wife Tamara, Mike and Brenda Tuttle, K9s4COPs board member Pam Mahoney and her husband, Tracy, Annie Kahn, board member Mark Spillard, my dear mother Jo-Jo Hoss, photographer Josh Welch, Jaz and Jason Stanze with Houston K9 Academy, K9s4COPs Operations Manager Melanie Orth and her husband Brady Boyd, the talented P+R Productions Team of Suzy and Anthony Jackson, Michael Spicer, Adrian Garcia, Matt Godwin, Chris Bell, Pierre Cardenas and Lauryn Sanford.

Our mornings start very early—at 4 .a.m.—in the last minute rush to finish the floats. The entire float is made entirely of flowers or plant material, and to survive through New Year’s Day, everything comes together at the last possible minute. Employees and volunteers, like the local Girl Scout troop, have worked seemingly around the clock to bring the float to life.

The day after Christmas we watched Johnny Cash’s alter ego get a base coat of Lentil seeds, onion seeds, toasted sesame seeds, Kelp and seaweed glued to the mold. By Friday evening, he had lifelike fur made of grasses.

We are surrounded by all manner of flowers—and magicians. There’s no other way to describe how these floats come to life. It’s magic. The time and detail is truly a labor of love.

It’s the fruition of Dahlin’s desire to make sure that he would make things right after Blek’s death. It’s the fruition of my dream to help him make that possible, and make our communities safer for others.

It’s dreams coming true before the world.

-KK

Rose Parade Float Celebrates Police K9 Charity

By Ernie Slone | Posted: Dec 27, 2013, 4 p.m. EST

The theme of the 2014 Tournament of Roses Parade is “Dreams Come True,’’ and one float exemplifies the fulfillment of a dream of Kristi Schiller, a Houston woman who wants to aid K9 law-enforcement officers around the country by providing much-needed trained dogs to protect and serve by their sides.

Just over two years ago philanthropist Schiller heard a news report that Harris County Deputy Constable Ted Dahlin had lost his dog Blek in the line of duty, while pursuing burglary suspects. Schiller hoped to donate funds to replace the dog, but then learned of a shortage of trained dogs at police departments across the country, so she responded by founding the charity organization K9s4COPs.

I visited with Schiller at Fiesta Parade Floats in Irwindale, Calif., as workers scrambled to assemble the K9s4COPs float before next Wednesday’s 2014 Rose Parade in nearby Pasadena. She told me why this cause has become such an important mission for her.

“The parade will be seen by 1 million people along the route, plus another 100 million watching on TV, and our hope is to raise awareness of what K9 officers go through, how valuable they are,’’ Schiller says. “Having a trained dog at an officer’s side makes so many situations so much safer. If an officer has to enter a warehouse in pursuit of a suspect the dog has such superior senses that he can signal an alert long before any human could know there was a danger.’’

Schiller says the dogs have had a large impact in her Houston area community, where K9s4COPs has donated 16 of Harris County’s 23 K9s.

 When Deputy Ted Dahlin lost his police K9 in the line of duty Kristi Schiller, right, responded by forming the charity fundraising group K9s4COPs, which has now donated more than 60 dogs to police departments across the nation.

Sgt. Mike Thomas says his police dog Tamra and 15 other police dogs donated to his Harris County Police Department in Texas by K9s4COPs has made a huge difference in combating rampant drug trafficking in the Houston area and keeping officers safe.

“Before we got these dogs we had only 8 dogs to patrol the Houston area, which has become a hub of drug activity and transport nationwide,’’ says Sgt. Mike Thomas, who will ride atop the K9s4COPs float with his donated police dog Tamra. “With so few dogs, we were stretched too thin. It was like trying to spread a teaspoon of peanut butter across a slice of bread.’’

“In the past year just one of these dogs confiscated $6 million worth of drugs, and it cost us $10,000 to donate that trained dog,’’ Schiller says. “You do the math. Then multiply that by 16, the number of dogs we have donated in the Houston area alone, and you can imagine what a major impact that is having, and trained dogs are needed across the United States, and in countries around the world, from detecting explosives to protecting our children in schools.’’

In just over two years the foundation has donated more than 65 K9s to 23 police agencies in nine states. The dogs are specifically trained to assist law enforcement in their work and cost $10,000 to $15,000, which the foundation raises through donations.

K9s4COPs dedicates its inaugural Rose Parade float to the heroic law enforcement K9 Units across America and to the men and women who serve and protect our community. Sitting atop a bed of roses is a larger-than-life K9 that resembles the organization’s mascot a King Shepherd, Johnny Cash. Founder Kristi Schiller, her husband John and daughter Sinclair will be joined by selected officers and deputies with their K9s by their side, representing K9s that have been donated by the organization.

Police dogs are in widespread use a variety of duties, including drug, explosives, and weapon detection and missing person searches. In many jurisdictions police dogs are full-fledged police officers, often with their own badges.

“In our part of the country many officers ride alone, rather than with a partner, so having a K9 partner gives a police officer an extra measure of security,’’ says Deputy Constable Ted Dahlin. “An officer’s family knows he or she has a better chance of coming home safely with that dog by his side.’’

Police officer Tamara, a Belgian Malinois, was one of the first of 65 trained dogs who have been donated to police departments across the nation by the K9s4COPs organization.

To learn more about the mission of K9s4COPs and how you can help today, or apply for a grant or donated police K9, click here.

Source: http://www.dogchannel.com/dog-blog/ernie-slone-blog/police-k9-charity-rose-parade-float.aspx

River Oaks makes the Rose Bowl parade: Are you ready for a 22-foot-tall German shepherd?

Source: http://houston.culturemap.com/news/social/12-28-13-river-oaks-makes-the-rose-bowl-parade-are-you-ready-for-a-22-foot-tall-german-shepherd/​

“A ‘BIG DOG’ WILL REPRESENT HOUSTON IN THE ROSE PARADE”

Watch the video: http://www.khou.com/news/local/A-Big-Dog-Will-Represent-Houston-in-Rose-Bowl-Parade-237694621.html​

by Sherry Williams / KHOU 11 News

December 27, 2013 at 10:49 PM

HOUSTON — There will be a big dog in this year’s Rose Bowl Parade. It will be 22 feet tall and is part of the K9’S 4 COPS float. The organization is based in Houston.

“K9 FLOAT TO APPEAR IN ROSE PARADE”

December 28, 2013

K-9 FLOAT TO APPEAR IN ROSE PARADE – “It will be 22 feet tall and is part of the K9’S 4 COPS float. The organization is based in Houston.”

A non-profit organization called K9s4Cops successfully applied for a spot in the upcoming Rose Parade to take place on New Years Day. K9s4Cops provides K-9 officers to law enforcement agencies across the U.S. The float will feature a 22 foot dog. Read more from KHOU:

It began after a Houston woman saw a story on the news about a Harris County Precinct 4 K-9 named Blek that cornered a suspect in the woods.

“The dog ran off looking for the suspect and the suspect ended up actually choking K-9 Blek,” said Melanie Orth, Operations Manager of K9’S 4 COPS.

Watching the story, Kristi Schiller was determined to do something.

“I tried to give a dog. It wasn’t that easy to replace one and hence, K9’s 4 COPS was born,” she said.

The group pays for specialized dogs to be brought in from Europe to protect and serve in America.

“In that short time we’ve given over 50 dogs to schools and law enforcement agencies across the country,” Jackson said.

“I made (Blek) a promise that I would make things right,” said Harris County Precinct 4 Deputy Ted Dahlin who had the dog as his K9 partner. “Never imagined that something like this would come from that,” he said, referring to the founding of K9’S 4 COPS and now its presence in the prestigious Tournament of Roses Parade on New Year’s Day.

As an added bonus the float will include nine real dogs which amounts to some pretty good extra security along the parade route in Pasadena, California.

The float looks like it’s coming along nicely. Click here for the full story and a news video. Also, click here for more about K9s4Cops (Photos from their Facebook page).