Please Welcome K-9 Lady #405
Please take a moment to welcome K-9 “Lady” into Project K-9 Hero as the 405th Program Member of our Pack! K-9 Lady honorably served for seven years, from 2019-2026, as an Explosives Detection Canine (EDC) under the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
K-9 Lady began her career in Houston, Texas, in August of 2019, where she was assigned to the ATF Houston Gun Crime Strikeforce (Group 5 NIBIN - National Integrated Ballistic Information Network). Lady was utilized daily to search for firearms, shell casings, and ammunition related to violent crimes to include Shootings, Aggravated Robberies, Home Invasions, Homicides, and Kidnappings.
Her notable stats from her exemplary career are:
Total Investigative Searches = 1,573
Total amount of pieces of evidence recovered (shell casings, live ammunition, firearms, etc…) = 5,390
Total NIBIN hits 2024-2026 (shell casings/firearms linked to additional crimes) = 228
K-9 Lady also performed protective sweeps for Texas Rodeos, Ironman competitions, large scale Marathons, the NCAA Final Four Men’s Basketball Tournament, the NCAA Football Championship, the NFL Super Bowl (LIX), Mardi-Gras in New Orleans, the World Games, the MLB World Series, and high-profile political events such as speeches, debates, and dignitary protective sweeps.
In 2023, K-9 Lady received a letter of recognition related to her efforts on the homicide of a 14-year-old boy who was executed in a field. Lady recovered key evidence at the scene, and on a subsequent search warrant, leading to a conviction. K-9 Lady also received the United States Attorney General’s Top K-9 award in 2026 for her outstanding performance nationally.
Unfortunately, Lady’s career was cut short due to two mast cell tumors she had in her hind legs. Both of them turned out to be cancerous and Lady was forced to retire early due to her medical condition on June 26th, 2026. Lady also suffers from severe arthritis in both front shoulders, and has low kidney filtration, putting her at risk for potential kidney failure.
Dozens of violent criminals were successfully prosecuted due to the firearm and ballistic evidence that only K-9 Lady was able to detect and locate. However, now that Lady is officially retired, her medical care is no longer covered by the government regardless of how many lives she has help save.
We understand that the cost of veterinary care is expensive, especially for an actively serving Federal K-9 Handler. The very last thing we at Project K-9 Hero want to see is Lady go without the assistance she needs, with her current health issues or if her cancer was to return, just because her bills were not affordable.
Therefore, we were honored to step up immediately and pay for Lady’s medical care, frequent office visits, treatment, therapy, necessary prescription medication or supplements, and any future diagnostic testing, or surgeries she may need for the rest of her life at 100%.
Please take a moment to welcome K-9 Lady as our 405th Pack Member. We are honored to be protecting her, after all that she has done to protect the City of Houston, the State of Texas, and the United States of America!
