DOWAGIAC — With some help from the local community, Bow Wow Bakery & Bath owner Deb Rohdy is looking to provide a much needed gift to one of her most loyal customers: Nellie the bloodhound.

The downtown Dowagiac business owner kicked off a campaign Saturday morning, in which she is looking to raise $1,800 in contributions in order to buy a new vehicle temperature alarm system for the Cass County K-9 and her handler, Deputy Tiffany Graves.

People may leave donations at either Bow Wow Bakery, located at 145 S Front St., or at First Source Bank 223 S. Front St.; people who donate may have their names placed on a display in Bow Wow’s front window.

The proceeds will be used to purchase an AceWatchDog system through Ace K-9, a leading manufacturer of vehicle temperature monitoring devices for police dog handlers. The devices send alerts to handlers when temperatures rise above 80 degrees; as temperatures continue to rise, other officers in the department are alerted. In extreme cases, the system will automatically lower the car windows to provide ventilation to the K-9 inside.

The device is intended to ensure that police dogs such as Nellie remain safe in situations where Graves must leave her inside the vehicle while responding to certain situations, the deputy said. Many K-9s are in danger of suffering from heat stroke, asphyxiation or other conditions when left inside a hot vehicle for too long — over the past five years, there have been nearly 50 reported K-9 deaths due this problem, Graves said.

“A lot of these deaths happen just when [officers] are inside doing paperwork,” Graves said. “Just 20 minutes locked inside a hot car, without water, can cause dogs to suffer from heat exhaustion.”

While Graves has long sought to purchase such a device for Nellie — who joined the force in 2013 to serve as a search and rescue dog for the department — there has not been any room in the sheriff’s office budget for it, Graves said.

So, when Rohdy called Graves several months ago asking if there was anything she could do to support Nellie, the deputy was more than happy to take the Dowagiac business owner up on the offer.

Rohdy, who opened Bow Wow Bakery & Bath along with her husband, Curt, in 2015, said she was inspired to organize a fundraiser to support the sheriff’s office earlier this year, when employees with Radiant Rogue Games, located a short distance away on Front Street, were raising money to purchase diabetic shoes, Rohdy said. Touched by the gesture, Rohdy said she wanted to do something with her business to also make the area a better place.

“This community has been so supportive of us ever since we opened,” Rohdy said. “This is just a way of giving back.”

Of course, owning a business dedicated to helping man’s best friend, Rohdy chose a cause that was well within her wheelhouse. Graves and Nellie are regular customers at the downtown dog wash, coming in at least once a month — often more, given the kinds of messy environments Nellie has to track in — so that the company’s dog washers can give the bloodhound a nice, long bath.

“Deb takes good care of us here,” Graves said. “It’s kind of like our home away from home.”

“People flock to Nellie whenever she’s here,” Rohdy added.

Seeing as Nellie is not only a valuable asset due to her tracking ability, but also a great way for law enforcement to reach out to children and others, raising money to ensure her safety is boon for not only Graves and the sheriff’s office, but for everyone living in Cass County, Rohdy said.

“It’s great having people like them [Deb and Curt] in the community, who are willing to step up and help us out,” said Cass County Sheriff Richard Behnke.

Rohdy said she is looking to raise the $1,800 for the device by next April, before the weather begins to heat up again, although, ideally, she would like to have everything wrapped by December, she said.

For more information, people may contact Rohdy at Bow Wow Bakery & Bath at (269) 782-6776.