K9 team gets a special gift in Shrewsbury

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K9 team gets a special gift in Shrewsbury
(l to r) Dr. Cynthia Cohen, Dr, Deborah Link, Dr. Shari Morana, Dr. Jillian Morlock, Mass. State Patrol Sgt. David Stucenski, and Mass. State Patrol Trooper Nicholas Dumas with his K-9 Hulk.

By Melanie Petrucci, Senior Community Reporter

Shrewsbury – Mass. State Trooper Nicholas Dumas of Shrewsbury, along with his K9 partner “Hulk,” received a tactical safety K9 vest through the Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog program on Jan. 30 at Community Animal Hospital in Shrewsbury. Funds in the amount of $2,400 were raised through donations made by the hospital’s Inn and Spa clients and staff members that directly went to the Vest-A-Dog program.

The Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog program is a nonprofit, all volunteer, program that has provided over 522 protective vests to local K9 officers.  

Kelly Robinson, director of Massachusetts Vest-A-Dog, noted that many people do not understand that when a local police department or state patrol receives a new K9 that they often don’t come with some of the equipment needed such as the kennel inserts for the cruisers, first aid kits, bite sleeves, etc.

Additionally, the nonprofit organization will be donating a tactical safety vest to Dumas’s K9 partner, “Hulk” that is custom made to his size from proceeds of the fundraiser. Hulk, a two-year old Dutch shepherd, was also present. 

“The vest will be bullet/stab proof, constructed from the same ballistic material as human officer vests, and has padding that protects against blunt force trauma such as the impact from a fist, a shoe, or other object,” according to a press release from Community Animal Hospital spokesperson, Rachael Dodson. “The total weight of the vest is 6 pounds, but the vest does not inhibit the K9’s movement in any way, and is only worn when there is an increased risk of danger.” 

Dodson said that the funds for this vest were raised over an 18-month period through donations totaling $2,400 made by Community Animal Hospital and Inn and Spa clients and staff members.  

“It was  absolutely a team effort from everyone involved here at the hospital as well as our clients so its really such a great honor to be  celebrating this today and we are very excited for Trooper Dumas and for his K-9 Hulk that we can provide that gift of protection for him,” Dodson stated.

She also shared that Sgt. David Stucenski is the developer of an air-borne SWAT team unit that Trooper Dumas and K-9 Officer Hulk will be a part of, in addition to other duties. 

“The SWAT team is not new but…integrating the K-9 into the team more is something that we are working on, Dumas noted. 

When asked what the vest will mean to Dumas, he replied that, “It will just make his (Hulk’s) job much safer. He’s there to make our job safer so if he can work safer and more effectively then that makes the troopers going in after him safer as well.”

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