After a major donation from a local business, the Seymour Police Department has enough money collected to begin the process of adding a second K-9.

On Thursday morning, officials from Pet Supplies Plus Distribution Center in Seymour presented a check for $5,000 to Officer Devlin McMindes at city hall.

The company also has pledged to provide all food and toys the new dog will need for the duration of its service as a police dog.

Police Chief Bill Abbott said the donation gets the department closer to its $15,000 goal, which is the amount needed to purchase the dog and get it ready for duty.

“We’re about three-fourths of the way there now, and that’s enough to go ahead and make this happen,” Abbott said.

Pet Supplies Plus partnered with several of its pet product vendors, including Caitec, Merrick, Kong, Multipet and WellPet, to come up with the money.

Tammy Barker, human resources manager with Pet Supplies Plus, said the company wanted to get involved after McMindes stopped by to tell them about Seymour police’s K-9 program and the department’s need for a second dog.

“At first, we didn’t think we could do a money donation. We were just going to be able to provide him with food and toys,” Barker said.

The local company has promised to supply the dog with its private label brand Redford Naturals dog food and other doggie items as long as needed.

“Anything else he needs, bowls, leashes, you name it, we’re doing to take care of the dog,” she said.

But after getting the other vendors on board, it didn’t take long to get the $5,000.

Jim Jelinek, vice president of supply chain for Pet Supplies Plus, said the company regularly supports causes that involve animals because animals are their business.

“We have support dogs for people that are doing rehab in hospitals,” he said. “We support several of those.”

Now, they will be able to add police dog to their list.

“When Devlin told us about it and you hear the cause, it’s hard to say no to it,” Jelinek said.

Pet Supplies Plus, located in the Eastside Industrial Park, has been in Seymour since 2012. The company funded and built Seymour’s first dog park, providing a large, fenced-in grassy area near its facility for people to take their dogs to run and play outdoors.

The park gets used daily, Jelinek said.

“It’s really important for us to engage in the community,” he said.

He also has offered to host police dog training classes at the warehouse so more training can be done locally.

“It’s 765,000 square feet, so they can come in and do it right in our facility,” Jelinek said.

McMindes has been going door to door in an effort to drum up support from local businesses and organizations that might be willing to chip in to help the department with the cost of expanding its K-9 unit.

Although the department has had two dogs in the past, K-9 Ace, handled by Cpl. Adam Surface, has been the only one since 2014. Ace is 6½ years old and has been working with Surface on the streets for five years. Abbott said he hopes to get 10 years of service from the Dutch shepherd.

Abbott said having another K-9 will help take some of the burden off of Ace, who is the only police K-9 serving Jackson County.

McMindes, who has been an officer with Seymour since 2014, said he has dreamed of being a police K-9 handler since he was 5. His grandfather was a K-9 handler for the Lafayette Police Department many years ago, he said.

“It’s been a lifetime dream of mine,” he said.