Thanks to a local nonprofit organization called Hounds on Working Leashes (HOWL), a Catasauqua Police Department K-9 now has the kind of bulletproof protection his human partner has.

On June 1, Catasauqua and Salisbury police department K-9s received ballistic vests, delivered by HOWL volunteers.

The nonprofit was organized in 2012 with the intent of assisting the Allentown Fire Department's Arson K9 unit with purchasing a new vehicle and equipment needed for the dog. However, members of the organization said they quickly found that all over the United States police K-9s were being shot and stabbed. According to founding HOWL member Lori Kutz, the organization began talking to K-9 handlers in police departments through out Lehigh County and quickly determined they wanted to assist all of the K-9 units in the Lehigh Valley area.

Kutz said police dogs are normally provided a generic-sized vest that hinders the dog's movements because it is not specifically sized for the dog. She said the organization contacted numerous vendors of K-9 ballistic/stab vests and found a company called K-9 Tactical Gear.

The owner of this company was a K-9 handler himself. The business makes custom-fitted vests that are specific to the dog. Much like regular patrol officers are custom-fitted for a ballistic vest, the dogs are sized up and a vest is made just for their body, so they can move and operate as if the vest was not there, Kutz said.

Each vest costs $1,300, so the members of HOWL began seeking the funds for purchasing vests for local police departments.

Whitehall Township business owners Bill Rohrer and Ruth Rohrer stepped forward to provide enough money to outfit two K-9 officers with new vests. The Rohrer family owns both Condoms Galore and Exotic Dreams.

Contact was made with police departments in the Lehigh Valley and Catasauqua and Salisbury police departments took the first two vests purchased for their K-9s, Jack and Fonzie.

The dogs were fitted and 65 days later, the vests were turned over to the respective departments.

Kutz said that the organization will fit a K-9 from Allentown and one from South Whitehall next.