K-9 Ballistic Vest Fund Supplies Dozens of Bulletproof Vests to Police Dogs Across USA

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Dogs have proven their ability to serve and protect the public as K-9 officers in the police force. Now, a member of the public is sending some protection their way to say “thank you”—and he’s still in grade school.

Nine-year-old Brady Snakovsky decided to help out after seeing a police dog without a ballistic vest on “LivePD,” a TV program featuring officers on the job. The third-grader from Strongsville, Ohio, became concerned and decided to take action.

Not every K-9 officer is equipped with a bulletproof vest. In fact, most police dog units are self-funded; and seeing that a ballistic dog vest costs around $1,000, or as much as $1,200, not all officers are prepared to shell that out for their partners.

That’s where Brady comes in.

“Brady saw that not all police dogs wear vests,” said Brady’s mom, Leah. “He just couldn’t understand why they weren’t protected, too.”

In 2018, he created the K9 Bulletproof Vest GoFundMe page dedicated to donating ballistic vests to unprotected police dogs across the United States. To get the ball rolling, the young man went to community events to talk to people and sold candy. His mom, Leah, helped him write to his local congressman to tell him about his mission to protect police dogs.

Line Of Fire Defense was even willing to give Brady their vests at Law Enforcement cost, allowing him to increase his donations.

And it seems to have really paid off!

Since then, Brady has sent an incredible 78 vests so far. Some of the officers to receive them have shared that it makes them feel at ease knowing their dogs are protected.

Just to give us an idea of the quality of the product, Brady explains in his GoFundMe page:

I work directly with the manufacturer who has an innovative ballistic vest that is top of the line. Their technology offers a vest that is lightweight and helps regulate body heat keeping the K9 cool. It provides ballistic and edged weapon protection for vital organs all while allowing complete freedom of movement. These vests allow the K9 to wear it throughout their entire shift and through training days so they can focus on what they do best.  

They get new requests from officers all over every day.

“It makes me feel great, knowing that not only is he protecting me, but I’m also protecting him,” an officer told FOX8.

The 9-year-old says he would like to be a police officer when he grows up—just like his stepdad. He added that he “wants to keep people safe.” Besides watching LivePD, Brady also like to dress up like a cop and cruise around in his toy patrol car with his siblings.