For years, Wendy Ziemba of Weymouth enjoyed fishing off Powder Point Bridge with her brother Wayne. Aside from the stark beauty of the spot and the bond it forged with her brother, she knew little of Duxbury, and had no idea that a good cause in Duxbury would help give meaning to Wayne’s untimely death.

The link is that Wendy and Wayne were dog-lovers. They supported MA Vest-A-Dog, a Walpole-based charity that supports communities with equipment for police dogs and their human handlers. The name “Vest-A-Dog” refers to the mission of providing bullet-proof “dog-vests.”

In January, 2011, Wayne Ziemba was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He died on February 25, 2012, at 36.

In March, Duxbury Town Meeting voted to fund a new canine cruiser for “Zar,” the town’s nine-year-old police dog, whose full-time handler is Officer Ryan Cavicchi. Traditionally, police cars have been Ford Crown Victorias – sedans with strong motors and bodies that are easily disassembled after the accidents that are police vehicles’ frequent fate.

To the annoyance of police all over America, the “Crown Vic” has been given a unitary body no longer lending itself to easy repair. Duxbury’s new canine cruiser is to be a Chevrolet, which will not accommodate the “cruiser kennel insert” – the enclosure where the back seat would be that is Zar’s “office” and which protects him on the road.

The cost of a new insert, along with a heat-detector alerting Office Cavicchi if Zar’s rolling office gets too hot, is $3,200 – less than 10 percent of what Duxbury’s taxpayers authorized for the new canine cruiser. In a year when taxpayers have taken on major new bonding, Police Chief Matthew Clancy would have been faced with asking taxpayers for more money to make the new cruiser operational. Instead, Officer Cavicchi applied to MAVest-A-Dog for a grant to cover the cost of Zar’s safety equipment.

When Wendy heard of this she resolved to raise this money in memory of the brother with whom she had spent so many hours on Powder Point Bridge. She appealed to the public with a letter sent on Aug. 3. To date, MAVest-A-Dog has received $2,125, leaving only $1,075 to protect Zar in Wayne’s name. Of course, the charity supports many police departments’ dogs, and gratefully accepts general contributions.

Zar was born in Slovakia in 2003. The Slovak German shepherd is jet-black, slightly smaller and more agile than its German cousin. For eight years Zar has served in Duxbury, where Ryan Cavicchi has been his constant companion. At the end of the working day the two return to Officer Cavicchi’s home in Kingston. The public had a glimpse of the importance of their work two weeks ago, when Zar was deployed to try to detect the scent of an alleged groper of female joggers.