While the K-9 may not be possible for most departments, I know a few departments in Virginia started requiring all units to have a minimum of two officers because gas prices were too high to send a second car every time they needed a second officer on the scene. Of course, the San Diego County Sheriff's Department can't seem to shut off the engine, park legally, or fit more than one officer in an SUV.
If police departments could afford to make every existing single-officer patrol unit a two-officer K-9 unit, they'd already do that.