The nonprofit Vested Interest in K9s, Inc. is currently running a nation-wide SUV Giveaway. Officers and their K9 partners from 29 law enforcement agencies around the county are finalists to win the SUV. The finalists range from large metro areas like Hazel Park, MI which is a suburb of Detroit to small rural counties.
Several agencies from Minnesota are finalists including Marshall County Deputy Cody Gillund and his K9 partner Eva. The two have been partners for three years and in 2017 the organization running the giveaway supplied Eva with here protective vest said, Gillund. “We were awarded a vest I believe in 2017,” said Gillund. “Eva and I have been partnered since October 31, 2016. The next year we applied for the vest grant and did all the protocols the organization required us to do. And we were awarded a vest.”
Gillund explained the contest is set up so that everyone can vote once per day using their email, which gives smaller agencies like Marshall County the opportunity to compete against big metro areas like Detroit. “Vested Interest in K9s is an organization that takes donations and they donate vests to K9 dogs throughout the United States,” said Gillund. “For two years they have been doing an SUV giveaway. This year we entered it and we’re one of 29 teams chosen in the United States. How the contest works is a daily vote. So, every person can vote every day throughout the month of October using an email address. You go to the link provided and you pick hopefully me, and my partner Eva from the gallery of 29 handlers. You can do that once a day, every day, throughout the month of October. We’re up against some metro agencies throughout the U.S. in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Michigan. The reason they do the daily vote is it gives smaller agencies like us a chance to compete with the larger agencies.”
Many police dogs are imported and Eva, a Belgian Malinois, was imported from Sophia, Bulgaria. Gillund said he and Eva have been deployed 160 times over the three years since the community raised for $40,000 in three weeks to get her. “Eva is the first K9 in Marshall County’s history,” said Gillund. “We wanted to get something like that going and didn’t know if we’d get the funding. When the program was in its infancy, we did a lot of research and decided the way to go about it was to fundraise. We fundraised about $40,000 in three weeks. That’s how well our community has supported us in this endeavor. We’ve had 161 deployments in the last three years. We’ve been involved in quite a few seizures of large amounts of methamphetamine. She’s also a tracking and apprehension dog. We’ve had numerous successful tracks. The longest, she actually tracked some three-quarters of a mile. That was pretty neat to see her working, doing what we’ve trained so hard to, and see it be successful.”
During their visit to KROX, it was evident that Eva is very playful when not working. Gillund also said Eva, who lives with him and his family, is like many dogs and hogs the bed. He also said one of the highlights of being a dog handler is visiting the local schools. “One thing that has really been fun is going to the schools and talking to the kids,” said Gillund. “They just light up when they see the dog come in the room. It’s funny, I kind of disappear and I like it that way. The kids love seeing the dog. We’ve done some demonstrations and shown them how she works. We never have time to answer all the questions from the kids because they love it.”
The winner of the giveaway will get a new Tahoe including all the equipment the county uses. Currently, the partners operate out of a car, which has some challenges, said Gillund. “Right now, the car I’m driving has 126,000 miles on it, and it is a car,” said Gillund. “So, there have been quite a few times last winter with our wonderful winter weather, where I’ve had to down my car, leave the dog at home, and borrow another officer’s four-wheel drive because I can’t get anywhere. Another thing is our county is very large. Any transports if someone gets arrested or anything, I’m sometimes out there by myself and the prisoner has to ride in the front seat and they’re not really secure that way because we just don’t have the room. There is no back seat but it’s a dedicated aluminum kennel for the dog. An SUV would allow us to carry all of our training equipment, give us prisoner transport, and four-wheel drive capability. So, we can get places and it’s going to be a little bit more room, a more functional vehicle. If we get lucky enough to win the total value of the vehicle will be $50,000. That will include the vehicle and they will custom outfit it as well. So it would be really, really nice to win.”
You can vote for Deputy Cody Gillund and his K9 partner Eva every day throughout the month of October by visiting www.vik9s.org/suvgiveaway.
