JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – You heard of Santa Claus… but what about Santa Paws?
K9 United is making sure all K-9 officers serving Northeast Florida communities have a very merry Christmas.
Dressing up as Santa Paws has been a Johnson family tradition since they started in 2016.
“Santa Paws is normally me, my mom, and my dad. We dress up as some famous Christmas movie, from like ‘The Grinch,’ the ‘Elf,’ like one of those is some of our examples,” Emma Johnson said.
It’s something Johnson has enjoyed since she was little.
“My absolute favorite thing is watching them unwrap the presents and watching them have a Christmas just like us,” she said.
“What we do is we help support K-9 units as far as with different equipment and training, so we wanted to do something special for them on Christmas time,” Debbie Johnson said.
This means a lot to St. Johns County Deputy Doug Kowieski, who shares a special bond with K-9 Patriot. Patriot is a narcotics dog who has been through a lot – including a cancer diagnosis and two ACL tears.
“I got Patriot when he was 8 weeks old as a puppy,” Kowieski said. “He turns 10 next month so I’ve had him for almost 10 years with me patrolling.”
Kowieski believes that some people don’t understand how important K-9 police are.
“I think sometimes they think our police dogs are mean, but they’re a part of our family,” he said.
That’s why a special visit from Santa Paws is more than a free gift but a token of appreciation for our four-legged first responders.
If you’d like to help make sure local police dogs get a toy for Christmas, visit www.facebook.com/K9sUnited to learn more.