photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Cheeseburger, a patrol service dog for the Lawrence Police Department, eats his dinner off a specially coated canvas in this Sunday, Dec. 11, 2022, file photo. The process rendered a painting for auction for Friends of the K9 Vest Midwest. Emily Fawcett, who founded the nonprofit, is at left.

The Lawrence Police Department’s patrol service dogs are scheduled to be featured on a nationally televised talk show this week, and the public is invited to a local watch party to celebrate.

LPD’s Patrol Service Dog Mack and his handler, Cpl. Kevin Henderson, along with Friends of the K9 Vest Midwest founder Emily Fawcett, will appear via Skype on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” The segment is about how LPD’s three patrol dogs created artworks that were auctioned to raise money for bulletproof vests for police dogs, which the Journal-World wrote about last December.

“Producers from The Kelly Clarkson Show caught wind of the fun, contacted us, and asked us to send a video showing them how the heck dogs create art,” Laura McCabe, a spokeswoman for LPD said in a news release Tuesday. “…They loved it and asked us to go on the show May 2,” which, unfortunately, happened to be when the Writers Guild of America strike began, interrupting TV schedules for months. Last Friday, though, LPD got word to be ready within a week.

photo by: Courtesy of Lawrence Police Department

A painting created by Shadow, a patrol service dog with the Lawrence Police Department. Shadow’s handler is Officer Josh Doncouse.

The show will air at 3 p.m. Thursday on ABC, or it can be streamed on Peacock. McCabe said the Lawrence piece would be the last segment in the show.

“There’s also a big surprise at the end,” she said in the release.

The watch party will be from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at Six Mile Chophouse and Tavern, 4931 W. Sixth St.

“It may not be 15 minutes of fame, but it’s our 3 minutes and we’re going to spread it out into an hour and a half of fun,” McCabe said.

As the Journal-World reported, Fawcett worked with LPD’s police dogs and their handlers to create the auction paintings to help law enforcement agencies in the region afford life-saving bulletproof vests for their dogs, many of whom lack the protective gear when venturing into dangerous situations. The vests have to be custom made and cost around $2,000 each.