By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

If, as the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a community to help Benicia police have trained K-9 police dogs.

And sometimes that effort begins with a child.

In this case, the child is Gavin Buchanan, who just turned 6. He and his mother, Molly McAfee, were at Southampton Shopping Center when they noticed Pet Food Express was having one of it fundraisers to benefit Bay Area police dogs.

The boy decided he wanted to help, particularly when he learned that police dogs are sometimes shot in the line of duty.

So he took the money he earned from chores, his allowance and every dime the tooth fairy gave for his six missing teeth. His father, Adam Buchanan, traded the smaller bills and coins for a crisp $100 bill, and Adam walked into the store, where Jeanine Gregory was assistant manager at the time, and told her he wanted to give her the money.

“I just wanted to,” Gavin said about his donation. After all, he likes dogs. The family has two Walker hounds, a schnauzer and an English bulldog.

Why would he give up all his money? “So he doesn’t get shot and killed,” he said about the police dog.

Gregory was surprised to see such a young boy ready to hand over such a large bill. But she also spotted McAfee, who was far enough away so Gavin could make the donation on his own but close enough to give Gregory a “thumbs-up” sign to let her know the donation was genuine.

“It’s a program we help fund,” Gregory said. Last summer, the Bay Area pet care chain raised $121,000 through its annual two-day K-9 event, and many people continued to give to the program after the event wrapped up, she said.

But Gavin’s gift stood out, she said. Benicia police Officer Kirk Keffer had brought his K-9 partner, Bak, to the store, and Gavin told Gregory as he handed her his money, “I want it to go to the dog outside.”

“The whole thing?” she asked.

“The whole thing,” the boy, then 5, told her.

“That totally blew me away,” Gregory said.

Later, Gavin was featured on a Pet Food Express poster with Benicia’s dogs. “That kid brought everybody to tears,” Gregory said.

“If every child could realize what you could do with that attitude!” she said. “Some day, he’ll realize the value. He so knew what he wanted to do.”

Gavin has met other police dogs, not just the German shepherd Bak, nor Atos, who succeeds the recently retired Mirco, a German shepherd whose career with Benicia police was interrupted because of an enlarged heart. Dogs from other departments also have benefitted from the program.

Thursday, when Gavin was being honored with a pin and other memorabilia for helping launch the latest donation drive for a dog vest, he got to meet Atos, who got his own vest that day.

Atos is Benicia Police Department’s newest dog. His handler, Brian Collins, who was partnered with Mirco until his retirement, told Gavin that Atos is like a little kid himself. Atos is little more than a year old. Half Belgian Malinois, half German shepherd, he still has a puppy’s enthusiasm and energy level.

In fact, Collins worried whether Atos would accept his new vest, presented Thursday at Pet Food Express, or whether the dog would have to practice putting it on and taking it off.

While Atos seemed puzzled about his new uniform, he was patient as Collins, with help from Gavin, strapped on the protective gear that one day could save his life.

Benicia police acquired Atos in October, in time to attend Pet Food Express’s November program for police dog safety. While there, he received an emergency trauma kit that is part of the program.

Atos was born in the Czech Republic, and was one of several candidates to be Mirco’s successor. However, his purchase wouldn’t have happened without another member of the Benicia community, the Syar Foundation.

The charitable donation arm of Syar Industries, the foundation has a history of helping Benicia police acquire police dogs, including Bak, the young German shepherd that now is the senior of the department’s two dogs.

“It’s the only way we could get another dog,” Collins said. There’s not enough money in the department’s budget for a new dog, even though Collins described it as “a huge asset to have on duty.”

Once the foundation learned of the department’s need, “within the week they donated the money,” he said.

Collins worked with Mirco one year. Since the K-9 assignment is a three-year commitment, he was given the opportunity to continue with the new dog. “I’m grateful for this — I jumped at it,” he said.

Police dogs come with some initial training, then the dog’s future partner, who has a big say in the selection, continues the training from there, with the help of the Solano County Sheriff’s Office.

“He tested very well,” Collins said of his early encounters with Atos. In fact, he and the dog engaged in a tryout that lasted the better part of a day.

“He has good drive. He hunted for a tennis ball, and did not give up,” Collins noted. Atos also exhibited a good response when ordered to bite. “He wasn’t scared. He engaged the person.”

But Atos also needs to be an ambassador for the police department, such as when Gavin reached out to pet the dog.

Atos wagged his tail and happily accepted the attention. Then Collins showed Gavin how Atos is rewarded for doing his job — getting a chance to play with a tugging toy.

Atos will be a narcotics and patrol dog. He’ll track a suspect, detect drugs, search buildings and “be an all-around dog,” Collins said.

Unlike Mirco, who helped Collins learn about becoming a dog handler, this time Collins is taking the lead. He’s getting a chance to train Atos from the ground up.

But before Atos began refining his education in police work, Collins had to learn things, too.

Atos and Mirco were trained in different languages. Atos is learning some English — “Good boy!” is now part of his vocabulary — but he knows most commands in Dutch, unlike Mirco’s language mix.

And Atos has different traits than Mirco. “We train every Wednesday, and each time I learn something new,” Collins said.

He has been learning more about Atos’s body language, the subtle signs that Collins now can interpret that lets him know what the dog is thinking as he does his job.

When he’s doing that job, he’ll be dressed in his new “Landshark” K-9 vest, nearly $1,300 worth of American-made body armor that has been custom-fitted to Atos’s body.

Unlike generic-sized vests, these sleeker models give the dog more mobility to climb and jump and run.

The vest has been purchased through “Cover your K-9,” a fundraising program in which Pet Food Express has been participating for five years, Gregory said. The vest has an infrared and LED light that can help the dog be seen, even by a helicopter overhead.

Straps and D-rings will allow Atos to be raised or lowered into situations he may not be able to climb into on his own.

“It’s the most high-tech vest around,” said Louise V. Tully, vice president and co-founder of Police and Working K-9 Foundation, which also helps provide the body armor and its accessories as well as a heat sensor for police cars to protect Atos, Bak and other area police dogs from becoming overheated in patrol vehicles.

The foundation also has contributed $1,000 toward Mirco’s medical expenses as part of its donations to retired police dogs, she said.

Her organization and Pet Food Express have partnered to distribute 200 vests as well as the emergency kits to police dogs, she said. “Our nonprofit foundation helped design the vest.”

After helping Collins fasten the vest to Atos, and after watching the dog play with his handler, Gavin said he thought his experience Thursday was “cool.”

He and the dog posed for pictures, and Gavin said he liked “how he looked around.”

Collins was proud of Atos, particularly how well he handled the attention and his new vest. “He was great,” he said.

And as for Gavin, Collins said, “That kid is awesome.” Impressed at the generosity of a child that young, Collins said, “That says a lot about his family.”