FUND-RAISING CAMPAIGN HELPS OLATHE K-9 UNIT

Eiko, a 10-year-old male German shepherd, checked out the crowd at a press
conference on Thursday. Fort Dodge Animal Health donated money to purchase
canines for the Olathe Police Department.

It could be a bad thing for police and drug-sniffing dogs to descend on a
company's holiday party.

Not so at Fort Dodge Animal Health in Overland Park, which on Thursday
awarded the Olathe Police Department $10,300 to replace two aging canine
officers.

Eiko, a 10-year-old German shepherd, retired last week. Aron, a German
shepherd who will turn 11 in January, is set to leave the department in
spring or summer.

Earlier this year, police feared budget constraints wouldn't allow the two
dogs to be replaced, which would mean Olathe's K-9 unit would be cut in
half, said Sgt. Greg O'Halloran. But a group of residents raised $5,413 in
a fund-raising campaign named Coins for K-9s, and Fort Dodge agreed to help
keep the city's K-9 program intact.

On Thursday, representatives from the residents group and Fort Dodge
President E. Thomas Corcoran met with Olathe Police Chief Janet Thiessen at
Fort Dodge's holiday party.

"We never dreamed we'd have people come forward this way," Thiessen said.
"The dogs are such important tools for us."

The effort began with the residents group, organized by Olathe police
volunteer Iris Gaughan and Jo Patrick, both captains in a neighborhood
watch program.

"We felt if little people like us took up a cause, maybe the community at
large would chip in," Gaughan said.

O'Halloran said the department planned to buy two dogs - priced at about
$7,000 each - from European breeders.

The department will buy one dog, train it and put it to work, and then buy
a second dog, O'Halloran said. The new canines will be roughly 18 to 24
months old.

"They deserve a break," Thiessen said of Eiko and Aron. "They deserve their
retirement."

Both dogs will be taken in by their police handlers, O'Halloran said.