When the state and county budget cuts trickled down to the police and sheriff’s departments, it is not always the public’s first thought to wonder how the dogs that make up the K9 units will be fed and cared for.

Discount Pet Food and Supplies on Prater Way made the decision to help the Sparks Police Department and the Washoe County Sheriff’s Department’s furry colleagues and started a food donation program.

“It is part of giving back to the community,” said Travis Wong, owner of Discount Pet Food and Supplies. “We wanted to do something to give back.”

Wong explained that an employee of the pet food store heard that funding for the K9 units could be cut, so Wong took the opportunity to contact the SPD and see if he could help.

The Sparks department has two dogs in its K9 unit: a Belgian Malinois named Rocky and a German Shepherd named Cimbo. In addition to the Sparks K9 unit, Discount Pet Food and Supplies, along with two Scraps pet stores in Reno, made dog food donations to the six dogs on the Washoe County Sheriff Department’s K9 unit. All together, the dog food donations are helping to feed eight dogs.

“We had extended the offer to Reno (Police Department) and I heard the airport has three dogs also,” Wong said.

Sgt. Jeanmarie Walsh of the SPD said that the dog food donation has been very helpful.

“The food for the dogs was previously coming out of our operating budget,” Walsh said. “Now that that food is being donated, now I have been able to purchased additional equipment for the trainers and dogs.”

Walsh explained that the department was able to buy better safety equipment for the people who helped with the K9 training called agitators. They are the people who the dogs will bite or attack during training. Walsh said that the agitators got new “scratch pants” to help prevent injuries and added safety equipment makes training more efficient.

“The dogs are on duty seven days a week, but they have training days on Wednesday,” Walsh said, adding that the dogs and their handlers are always ready to be called out to patrol.

Wong said that he is happy to hear that money being saved by the dog food donations is going to help the unit’s training.

“It’s worth it if the departments can save some money and put it into equipment and training,” Wong said. “We want the departments to be around for a long time.”

Part of keeping a K9 unit health and active is proper nutrition and Wong said that the stores make sure the dogs are well taken care of.

Wong said that when an officer who takes care of a dog in the K9 unit needs food, that officer can come into one of the participating stores and pick up a bag of food.

Wong also said that each dog is on a different food specific to its individual nutrition needs. His store carries a variety of food from the basic lamb and rice to salmon-fortified mixtures.

“They come in and like every other customer we take care of it for them and make sure their food is here,” Wong said. "The benefits of it are that the dogs with a better diet will be more alert and have a better drive and stamina.”

Wong said that people forget that the K9 unit never stops working when its on the job, whether it is search from a missing person or a suspect in a crime or sniffing for drugs, the dogs work very hard.

“If we can give them a good quality of life, their service can be incredible,” Wong said.

Discount Pet Food and Supplies is at 520 E. Prater Way and has been in business more than 20 years. The Scraps pet stores in Reno are at 7689 S. Virginia St. and 6120 Mae Anne Ave.