Summer With War Dogs – An Update from Our President
June through August have continued to be very busy for US War Dogs. With office moves, specialist gear send-outs, joint training days, national fundraisers and adding even more retired MWDs to our programs, it’s all been extremely positive.
Dog teams from all branches of military service gathered for a day of training
Frontline Services
As well as adding 32 new dogs to the Rx Program, we have covered the cost of emergency treatment for six dogs under our Emergency Care Program, totalling $14,530. We set up the program last year to help bridge the gap for owners whose dogs need urgent treatment, but who can’t travel to our partner hospital, Red Bank.
We also purchased two wheelchairs for retired MWDs and will post more updates on how they’re adjusting to life on two wheels, very soon.
Our US War Dogs service award is a big part of our heritage and we are proud to continue to issue these important mementos to MWDs as they retire. We have developed our offer to include a small care package and owners can now request a plush dog bed for their newly retired K-9s, as a special gift from us.
We were proud to award Ziva and Gage with their US War Dogs service award
Our Rainbow Bridge Assistance program exists to help owners with the cost of euthanasia and cremation and we have continued to provide support through this program to a number of grateful families. Owners can reach out for support through this program as long as their dog is a signed-up Rx member.
As well as catering for the needs of our retired MWDs, we’ve also been working hard to support our active duty K-9s. Following our Memorial Day care package send-out, which saw 170 packages sent to 18 kennels across the globe, we have also been able to support with specialized gear requests to a number of active duty dog teams. This vital kit helps our K-9 to maintain operational readiness and continue to excel in training. We are honored to help with these kit requests so if your kennel needs something and you’re having trouble getting it through the regular channels, hit us up at
k9family@uswardogs.org.
A example of one of the gear requests we’ve been honored to fulfil
War Dogs Partnerships
We are continuing to support our charity partners and made a donation of $7,000 to The Ddamien Project in Texas to help cover costs and care for the 17 retired MWDs currently in residence. Krystal and Matt do the most phenomenal job of keeping these retired heroes healthy and blissfully happy on the ranch, and we are so happy to be able to play a small part in their story. Check out their
website for more details or to meet some of the Project’s residents.
Husband and wife team Krystal and Matt Tronboll do an incredible job of taking care of retired MWDs and other ex-service dogs at The Ddamien Project
Our other partners, The Dawgs Project, Michigan War Dogs Memorial, Mission K9 Rescue and US War Dogs Association Chapter 3 are continuing to do incredible work and we are proud to stand alongside them as they support the K-9 community and honor its legacy.
Keeping the Lights on
We rely solely on the generous donation from our K-9-loving community to keep us going, which also includes some awesome corporates, who support us with fundraising activities.
This year, our corporate partner Pet Supermarket, helped us with a fundraiser in their 200 stores across the South East, Texas and California. The two-month campaign encouraged their customers to make a donation as they cashed out. The fundraiser plays a huge part in helping to keep our mission on track and we are so thankful to the amazing team at Pet Supermarket for making these drives for War Dogs so successful.
Retired MPC Bass and retired SSD Gage visited the store’s team in San Antonio, TX
Holiday House Pet Resort & Training Center in Doysletown, PA, donated the proceeds from its annual Pup-a-Palooza to US War Dogs. We were thrilled to receive a check for $850, which was raised on the day when the team set up a photo booth for dogs – giving owners the chance to have their portraits taken. We loved the idea and we’re so grateful to the team for selecting our organization to benefit from the event.
The team at Holiday House Pet Resort & Training Center put the fun into fundraising at their annual Pup-a-Palooza
It's not just businesses who choose to support us with fundraisers. We were thrilled to receive a check for $3,345 from Kaitlyn Hayden – who chose to complete her high school senior project of running a small business for a week, donating the proceeds to an organization, whose work she felt passionately about. Kaitlyn set up and ran a hot dog stand for a week over the Memorial Day weekend down in Florida, in partnership with Larsen MacColl and Rody’s Tavern.
The project not only gave Kaitlyn a flavor for what it’s like to run a business, she also raised a fantastic amount of money for our cause. Thank you ma’am – we love your work ethic and your originality.
Kaitlyn used her school project to raise funds for US War Dogs
Joint Training
It doesn’t matter which branch of service you serve with – if you’re K-9, you’re K-9! That brotherhood was on full display when 19 teams from all branches of military service gathered at the US Marine Corps base in Quantico for a day of fellowship and in-depth training, which was designed to test dogs and handlers of apprehension, detection and blending their skills through complex scenarios.
I was honored to be one of the trainers on the day and the teams really brought the thunder, grinding it out over a series of training lanes to test both dog and handler to make them better and help to save lives. I took the chance to rep for War Dogs too – handing out goodie bags to the dog teams to help spread the word about what we do.
I was also fortunate to be joined by retired US Marine and Purple Heart recipient, Al Brenner, who gave a quick talk to the dog teams assembled at the start of the, on the importance of training and not taking a single rep for granted.
Malinois… The Horse!
You may remember us posting about Malinois, the two-year-old colt that is being trained by legendary horse trainer, Kevin Boniface. Malinois’ co-owner is a huge supporter of US War Dogs and pledged to donate a percentage of his winnings to our cause, when he hits the big time.
It’s early days for him now while he learns the ropes and gets used to life on the racing circuit, but we have high hopes for Malinois and with an expert team behind him, we’ll be cheering him on to greatness! Malinois leads the way!
Malinois is new to racing but we’re excited to watch him progress
Always Beside You
Two members of the War Dogs team said goodbye to their beloved retired MWDs over the summer. US Marine Corps Master Sergeant Edgar Ramirez served with Fedor before retiring him to live with his family. Edgar is currently on a year-long unaccompanied tour in Holland, but Fedor – who was 14 – held on until he came home on leave. He passed away with his dad and best friend by his side. Edgar looks after War Dogs’ stewardship program and we are lucky to have him on the team
Former US Marine Corps Special Operations (MARSOC) dog handler as War Dogs board member, Alex Schnell, also said a painful farewell to his multi purpose canine (MPC) Bass, who retired to live with him and his wife Maddie in 2019. Bass’ wartime actions were honored with the PDSA Dickin Medal and the Animals in War and Peace Medal of Bravery. He also helped fly the flag for US War Dogs by making public appearances at events on TV. Bass will be hugely missed but his legacy will live on.
MARSOC MPC Bass will be sadly missed
US Marine Edgar Ramirez and Fedor were brothers in arms
Looking Ahead
As we head into the last quarter of the year, we will be continuing our hard work to support the K-9 community and honor its incredible legacy. We have some very exciting developments to announce for the organization so please help to spread the good word about US War Dogs by sharing our social channels with your networks and encouraging friends and family to sign up to our mailing list.
Thank you for your continued support of this incredible organization – I am so proud of the work we are doing and for the dedicated and passionate team of volunteers that help to keep the wheels turning.
Thank you and K-9 leads the way!
