K-9 Tomy's Page

Complete K-9 Academy, Inc. donates a police dog.

This is Tomy's story (written by Gaby)

On May 17th, 2011 I imported Tomy, a one and a half year old Belgian Malinois with the intent to donate him as a K9 prospect to the North Port PD. Tomy was born and raised in Croatia, a small country in the Balkans area of Europe, neighboring my home country of Bulgaria. I was drawn to Tomy for several reasons, but mainly I believed that he'll be perfect for the K9 program I wanted to donate a special dog to.

When I picked him up at the Orlando airport, Tomy was quiet at first but once he came out of his cage he was happy and very playful - a great sign!
Tomy and I bonded very fast, he was very eager to work and please.
I knew we had some work ahead of us, but Tomy was so good, I contemplated keeping him myself. Even though I've always been a Doberman person, Tomy was the only Malinois I could see myself owning. He was just so balanced.
Shortly thereafter I made the official offer to North Port PD and waited 2 long months for the logistics to play a major role in Tomy's and one chosen police officer's life. It wasn't an easy task, the department couldn't just take my donation, they had no money to equip another officer with the K9 vehicle. So I reached out to my clients and was very fortunate to receive a generous donation in the form of checks for $1000.00 each from Denise Conrad of Remax in Venice and Dave Normandin of Roman Metal Works in Sarasota. I was finally able to offer the complete package to the PD, we even had some money left over to get all four of the K9 handlers some new screen printed shirts. All in all worth well over $10,500.00.

I was so excited! I couldn't wait to hear the YES from the administration. In the mean time Tomy and I continued working in obedience, protection and socialization.
We got the approval and the long process, yet again, of choosing the new K9 handler began. Tomy was still with me, enjoying the country life and the many adventures we went together on.
While waiting we got the K9 cruiser equipped with a dog cage courtesy of a great deal we received from American Aluminum and we got those shirts printed, again we got a great deal, courtesy of Renaissance Arts in Myrtle Beach. The K9 cruiser and the cage were beautiful and so were the shirts.

About Tomy

Full Name:	Tomy Cibo
Birthdate:	December 26, 2009
Breed:	Belgian Malinois
Home country:	Croatia
Breeder:	Blazenka i Miroslav Jovanovi - Kennel Cibo

And so the big day came. Finally, we had a handler! Pfc. Keith Bush was going to be Tomy's partner and new best friend. K-9 school dates were set and I began getting Tomy's paperwork ready for transfer and myself ready to say good bye. I was sad but also very excited.

K9 Tomy and his new handler

On August 2nd, 2011 K-9 school began with a bang with a demo at North Port High School for the National Night Out, where Keith and Tomy had to perform together for the first time during bite work and agility. All K9 handlers were wearing their new shirts and they looked like a well put together team.
Tomy and Keith have had just a few short weeks together to bond and begin working but that didn't stop Tomy from being a star from the start. I watched from the crowd as he leaped over a police cruiser to bite the "bad guy" (K9 officer Noel Coward). I was so proud of him.

With this picture Tomy made his first, of many, media debuts.
Keith and Tomy now had 480 hours of training ahead of them before certification and before they could "work the road" as a team.

During their training I was able to join with my Doberman Kaya and see the progress of Tomy first hand. He was doing great, I couldn't be more proud! And it seemed as if Keith and Tomy were meant for each other as they worked so well together and had similar qualities.

K9 School Pictures

Criminal apprehension - bite work training in a muzzle
Obedience - Attention heeling	Agility - four hurdles
Criminal tracking	Article search - retrieve to handler

Almost 3 months later Keith and Tomy certified through FDLE for Patrol Dog and through NPCA for Drug Dog. Now they were officially ready to work the streets of North Port. The team were called out the very next day to perform drug sniffs and to this date Tomy has an outstanding track record for finding illegal substances.

Vehicle drug search

Drug search - positive indication

Shortly after graduation I was called in to the Commissioners' meeting at City Hall to commemorate my donation of now K9 Tomy and to honor Denise, Dave and those who helped make this possible. Everyone was there, the Chief, the Sergeant, the trainer, all K9 handlers, a whole lotta people and of course - my Tomy. It was very special.

Recognition Ceremony

Dave Normandin, Pfc. Keith Bush, Gaby Urevitch and Chief Kevin Vespia

Recognition ceremony at North Port City Hall

Today Tomy and Keith continue to work the streets of North Port together and grow stronger as a team. Their commitment to the community is outstanding and the amount of personal and professional growth for both has been enormous.

I'm very proud to have been able to make this donation. I've been involved with dogs and dog training for many years and it's through K9 officer Noel Coward (also NPPD's K9 trainer) that I was able to learn about police K9s and protection work with dogs. Choosing who to donate to was a "no brainer".

Tomy is very special to me and I'm honored to see him be handled by K9 officer Keith Bush. He's an outstanding officer and the two of them are destined to go far and do great things.

Currently K9 Tomy and Keith are training for the 2012 USPCA Regional Championships. I can't wait to see the results! Something tells me they'll be outstanding too.

More K9 School Pictures

K9 school graduation - Kristen Long w/ K9 Abram (Venice PD), Keith Bush w/ K9 Tomy and Gaby w/ Kaya. Not pictured: Derek Baker (Sarasota SO) w/ Cyrus

K-9 Tomy with his favorite tug reward toy

North Port's K-9 Handlers - Noel Coward w/ K9 Sniper, Shawn Rice w/ K9 Duke, Mike Dietz w/ K9 Cammo and Keith Bush w/ K9 Tomy