Dog owners trooped to the Philippine Coast Guard Headquarters in Manila on Thursday to voluntarily donate their pets to the PCG K9-Unit.

Lieutenant Commander Armando Balilo, PCG spokesman and deputy chief of staff for community relations said that many responded to their call to busy people to donate their pet dogs for training in the K9 unit.

“More than 25 dog owners who own different breeds both local and foreign types already responded to our request since they saw it on TV yesterday (Wednesday) evening. Most of them didn’t have time to take care of their pets, so they decided to donate it to us and since they believed, their dogs will be in good hands. Their dogs will undergo proper training,” Balilo said.

The PCG K9-Unit which is headed by Commander Allen Dalangin was happy about the public response. “Some of the donors advised us to pick up the dogs in their residence while others even personally brought their pets either in Coast Guard Headquarters in Manila or right here at our K-9 training facilities in Taguig,” Dalangin said.

The commanding officer of the K-9 Unit said that the donated dogs will still undergo a series of tests before they will be accepted in the current roster. (John Carlo Cahinhinan)