UW police host Dog Days of Summer picnic

The first annual Dog Days of Summer picnic, an official fundraising event dedicated to supporting the UW Police Department’s K9 unit, will be held on Saturday, July 28.

The event takes place from 2-5 p.m. at Hickory Hills Kennels, 3317 Femrite Drive.

K9 Rex, the senior member of the unit, and his handler Detective Shane Driscoll will be there along with K9 Casey and her handler, Sgt. Cherise Caradine, and the newest addition to the unit, K9 Odin and his handler Sgt. Brent Plisch.

Members of the department’s horse, motorcycle and bicycle units will also be on hand and NBC-15 Morning Show anchor Christine Bellport will emcee the event.

There will be K9 training and working demonstrations, musical entertainment by Fruit Punch Mustache, lots of great raffle prizes and a silent auction.

The silent auction items will be sold the day of the event. Among them are a basketball autographed by Badgers men’s basketball coach Bo Ryan, a football signed by coach Bret Bielema, a pair of Milwaukee Bucks tickets, a two-night Apple River camping and tubing trip and a kid’s bike from Pacific Cycle.

Among the raffle prizes are a Green Bay Packers football signed by the team, a one-half carat black diamond dog paw necklace, passes to the Great Wolf Family Suite and Water Park, a six-month membership to the Harbor Athletic Club, a signed and framed UW women’s hockey jersey, and a Trek Lime Light 18.5-inch adult bicycle.

You can have your picture taken next to a K9 and a squad car, and you can bring your dog and see how fast he or she can run when clocked by radar. Dogs must be on a six-foot or shorter leash and current on their vaccinations.

The university’s corps of K9 police are highly trained crime fighters.

• K9 Rex arrived on campus in 2003. He is trained in explosives detection and tracking and is now one of only three explosives detection K9s in Dane County.
• K9 Casey joined the department in 2007 and is trained in narcotics detection and article searches.
• K9 Odin arrived in June 2010 and he is also trained in explosives detection and tracking. Each dog is certified through the North American Police Work Dog Association.

To learn more about the UWPD K9 Unit, click here.