The Palm Valley community in Oviedo recently hosted a meet-and-greet with Max, a German shepherd in UCF\u2019s K-9 unit, and his trainer, Community Relations Supervisor Cpl. Chuck Reising.\u00a0\u00a0The community is just \u00a0few miles from the UCF campus and residents are grateful that such a well-trained K-9 force is available\u00a0so close by.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur dogs are used on a daily basis; we have mutual aid with all local agencies in Orange County and Oviedo,\u201d said Reising. Max, who is 3 \u00bd years old, is one of three full-service dogs in the unit who can track, search and sniff out drugs and explosives. A fourth, still in training, has recently been acquired.<\/p>\n
As Reising explained the costs associated with bringing a new canine to the team, one resident commented that he had seen many rescue dogs in action during his time in combat, adding \u201cyou just can\u2019t put a price on life.\u201d<\/p>\n
The community members held a Chinese auction fundraiser following the visit to raise money for the new shepherd and the unit as a whole. Eighty items were auctioned off, with all proceeds going to the UCF K-9 unit. \u201cWe are not a wealthy community but we believe in UCF and are very excited to help the unit,\u201d said Anne Mertens, one of the organizers of the event. More than $1,500 was raised at the auction, with additional contributions anticipated.<\/p>\n
A formal presentation by Holly Morse,\u00a0Palm Valley\u00a0community manager, to the UCF K-9 unit will be made at a later date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Palm Valley community in Oviedo recently hosted a meet-and-greet with Max, a German shepherd in UCF\u2019s K-9 unit, and his trainer, Community Relations Supervisor Cpl. Chuck Reising.\u00a0\u00a0The community is just \u00a0few miles from the UCF campus and residents are grateful that such a well-trained K-9 force is available\u00a0so close by. \u201cOur dogs are used on a daily basis; we…","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":49869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-twocol.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"lazy_load_responsive_images_disabled":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":"","_wp_rev_ctl_limit":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3703,4886,4911],"tu_author":[],"class_list":["post-49853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-philanthropy","tag-ucf-foundation","tag-ucf-police-department"],"yoast_head":"\n