Man's Best Freinds......

Man's Best Friends - Our K-9 companions helped shape our civilzation

Scientist have given further evidence for what many of us already knew.  Our K-9 pals are a force in our lives and part of the reason why we have been able to evolve into the world's masters.  Dogs learned from us and we benefited from their partnership.

The findings of their study show what many of us who have a dog in our lives already knew.  Dogs watch us and learn from our emotions, actions and how we communicate with them.  Facial signals being the most important to them and also an intense desire to please us.  Dogs live for our praise and having a dog in your life has proven to be beneficial for health and safety.  There are many dogs that need a good home and if you are able to do so, look to adopt one from a shelter.

I have been overseas and have seen how much dogs help our troops and those in harm's way.  There can be no amount of praise that rewards these K-9 warriors for how much they do for our troops. 

In all ways, dogs are our best friends and I am glad to have them along on life's journey.

Doggy Daydreams: Brain Scans Reveal Fido's Thoughts



Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor


Date: 07 May 2012

Fido's expressive face, including those longing puppy-dog eyes, may lead owners to wonder what exactly is going on in that doggy's head. Scientists decided to find out, using brain scans to explore the minds of our canine friends.

The researchers, who detailed their findings May 2 in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, were interested in understanding the human-dog relationship from the four-legged perspective.

"When we saw those first [brain] images, it was unlike anything else," said lead researcher Gregory Berns in a video interview posted online. "Nobody, as far as I know, had ever captured images of a dog's brain that wasn't sedated. This was [a] fully awake, unrestrained dog, here we have a picture for the first time ever of her brain," added Berns, who is director of the Emory University Center for Neuropolicy.



Sit … stay … still

Berns realized dogs could be trained to sit still in a brain-scanning machine after hearing that a U.S. Navy dog had been a member of the SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden. "I realized that if dogs can be trained to jump out of helicopters and airplanes, we could certainly train them to go into an fMRI to see what they're thinking," Berns said.

So he and his colleagues trained two dogs to walk into and stay completely still inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanner that looks like a tube: Callie, a 2-year-old feist, or southern squirrel-hunting dog; and McKenzie, a 3-year-old border collie.

In the experiment, the dogs were trained to respond to hand signals, with the left hand pointing down signaling the dog would receive a hot-dog treat and the other gesture (both hands pointing toward each other horizontally) meaning "no treat." When the dogs saw the treat signal, the caudate region of the brain showed activity, a region associated with rewards in humans. That same area didn't rev up when dogs saw the no-treat signal. [Video of dog experiment]

"These results indicate that dogs pay very close attention to human signals," Berns said. "And these signals may have a direct line to the dog’s reward system."

Mirror into human mind

The researchers think the findings open the door for further studies of canine cognition that could answer questions about humans' deep connection with dogs, including how dogs represent human facial expressions in their minds and how they process human language.

With such an evolutionary history between man and man's best friend, the studies, the researchers point out, "may provide a unique mirror into the human mind," they write.

"The dog's brain represents something special about how humans and animals came together. It’s possible that dogs have even affected human evolution," Berns said.

In fact, research published in the August 2010 issue of the journal Current Anthropology suggests our love of these furry four-legged creatures may have deep roots in human evolution, even shaping how our ancestors developed language and other tools of civilization.

Even the bravest warriors have issues - More Military Dogs Show Signs of Combat Stress

Our 4-legged Warriors do it all for their troops, with a wagging tail and a smile. But even the hardiest of our K-9 buddies can have issues after repeated exposure to the horror of war. I am glad to see that the military recognizes the issue and is compassionate to our military dogs. In less enlightened times, the dog would have likely been put down.

I salute our 4-legged soldiers for all that they do. They save lives.

The least we can do is support them when they need it. Semper Fidos.



More Military Dogs Show Signs of Combat Stress
By JAMES DAO / NY Times
Published: December 1, 2011

SAN ANTONIO — The call came into the behavior specialists here from a doctor in Afghanistan. His patient had just been through a firefight and now was cowering under a cot, refusing to come out.

Apparently even the chew toys hadn’t worked.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, thought Dr. Walter F. Burghardt Jr., chief of behavioral medicine at the Daniel E. Holland Military Working Dog Hospital at Lackland Air Force Base. Specifically, canine PTSD.

If anyone needed evidence of the frontline role played by dogs in war these days, here is the latest: the four-legged, wet-nosed troops used to sniff out mines, track down enemy fighters and clear buildings are struggling with the mental strains of combat nearly as much as their human counterparts.

By some estimates, more than 5 percent of the approximately 650 military dogs deployed by American combat forces are coming down with canine PTSD. Of those, about half are likely to be retired from service, Dr. Burghardt said.

Though veterinarians have long diagnosed behavioral problems in animals, the concept of canine PTSD is only about 18 months old, having come into vogue among military veterinarians who have been seeing patterns of troubling behavior among dogs exposed to explosions, gunfire and other combat-related violence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Like humans with the analogous disorder, different dogs show different symptoms. Some become hyper-vigilant. Others avoid buildings or work areas that they had previously been comfortable in. Some undergo sharp changes in temperament, becoming unusually aggressive with their handlers, or clingy and timid. Most crucially, many stop doing the tasks they were trained to perform.

“If the dog is trained to find improvised explosives and it looks like it’s working, but isn’t, it’s not just the dog that’s at risk,” Dr. Burghardt said. “This is a human health issue as well.”

That the military is taking a serious interest in canine PTSD underscores the importance of working dogs in the current wars. Once used primarily as furry sentries, military dogs — most are German shepherds, followed by Belgian Malinois and Labrador retrievers — have branched out into an array of specialized tasks.

They are widely considered the most effective tools for detecting the improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.’s, frequently used in Afghanistan. Typically made from fertilizer and chemicals, and containing little or no metal, those buried bombs can be nearly impossible to find with standard mine-sweeping instruments. In the past three years, I.E.D.’s have become the major cause of casualties in Afghanistan.

The Marine Corps also has begun using specially trained dogs to track Taliban fighters and bomb-makers. And Special Operations commandos train their own dogs to accompany elite teams on secret missions — the best-known instance, the Navy SEAL raid that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. Across all the forces, more than 50 military dogs have been killed since 2005.

The number of working dogs on active duty has risen to 2,700, from 1,800 in 2001, and the training school headquartered here at Lackland has gotten busy, preparing about 500 dogs a year. So has the Holland hospital, the Pentagon’s canine version of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Dr. Burghardt, a lanky 59-year-old who retired last year from the Air Force as a colonel, rarely sees his PTSD patients in the flesh. Consultations with veterinarians in the field are generally done by phone, e-mail or Skype, and often involve video documentation.

In a series of videos that Dr. Burghardt uses to train veterinarians to spot canine PTSD, one shepherd barks wildly at the sound of gunfire that it had once tolerated in silence. Another can be seen confidently inspecting the interior of cars but then refusing to go inside a bus or a building. Another sits listlessly on a barrier wall, then after finally responding to its handler’s summons, runs away from a group of Afghan soldiers.

In each case, Dr. Burghardt theorizes, the dogs were using an object, vehicle or person as a “cue” for some violence they had witnessed. “If you want to put doggy thoughts into their heads,” he said, “the dog is thinking: when I see this kind of individual, things go boom, and I’m distressed.”

Treatment can be tricky. Since the patient cannot explain what is wrong, veterinarians and handlers must make educated guesses about the traumatizing events. Care can be as simple as taking a dog off patrol and giving it lots of exercise, play time and gentle obedience training.

More serious cases will receive what Dr. Burghardt calls “desensitization counter-conditioning,” which entails exposing the dog at a safe distance to a sight or sound that might trigger a reaction — a gunshot, a loud bang or a vehicle, for instance. If the dog does not react, it is rewarded, and the trigger — “the spider in a glass box,” Dr. Burghardt calls it — is moved progressively closer until the dog is comfortable with it.

Gina, a shepherd with PTSD who was the subject of news articles last year, was successfully treated with desensitization and has been cleared to deploy again, said Tech Sgt. Amanda Callahan, a spokeswoman at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado.

Some dogs are also treated with the same medications used to fight panic attacks in humans. Dr. Burghardt asserts that medications seem particularly effective when administered soon after traumatizing events. The Labrador retriever that cowered under a cot after a firefight, for instance, was given Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, and within days was working well again.

Dogs that do not recover quickly are returned to their home bases for longer-term treatment. But if they continue to show symptoms after three months, they are usually retired or transferred to different duties, Dr. Burghardt said.

As with humans, there is much debate about treatment, with little research yet to guide veterinarians. Lee Charles Kelley, a dog trainer who writes a blog for Psychology Today called “My Puppy, My Self,” says medications should be used only as a stopgap. “We don’t even know how they work in people,” he said.

In the civilian dog world, a growing number of animal behaviorists seem to be endorsing the concept of canine PTSD, saying it also affects household pets who experience car accidents and even less traumatic events.

Nicholas H. Dodman, director of the animal behavior clinic at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tuft University, said he had written about and treated dogs with PTSD-like symptoms for years — but did not call it PTSD until recently. Asked if the disorder could be cured, Dr. Dodman said probably not.

“It is more management,” he said. “Dogs never forget.”

K-9 Soldier "CUJO" gets the care he needs as he is medevaced out of Afghanistan

I am glad to see our K-9 Soldier "Cujo" got some TLC for his battle wounds. Poor Pup !

Our K-9 Brothers deserve nothing less as they make a big difference out here for the troops.

Military Working Dog Medevaced with Shot Paw
by Glenn Anderson / MILITARY.COM August 16, 2011

As some of you Kit Up! readers may have seen — last week Military.com sent two of the editorial staff to Bagram, Afghanistan to look at the USAF’s Aeromedical Evacuation teams and the various phases of care delivered to our combat wounded.

Thanks to the USAF’s Air Mobility Command we caught a ride from Ramstein to JB McGuire / Dix / Lakehurst and I got the chance to chat with some of the flight crew about the things they’ve seen and experienced in their job.

It turns out that just two days earlier they had a very special guest on their C-17 – this military working dog is named Cujo and while the crew didn’t know a lot of details about what happened to him they told me he had been shot in the leg a few days earlier and was given the same professional and competent level of care as his human colleagues during his med-evac. He is expected to make a full recovery.

3 Marines, Military Dog Killed in Afghan Blaze

Sad news. The loss of lives of these fine US Marines and their faithful K-9 comrade saddens me. There are many dangers here in Afghanistan and fires in living quarters are always a danger in military camps.

Please pray for all our military and especially those that give their lives selflessly to defend freedom. These fine Marines and their K-9 shipmate are no less worthy of our reverence and respect as they were far from home and on duty when a tragic accident took them from their family and friends.


3 Marines, Military Dog Killed in Afghan Blaze
August 04, 2011
Jacksonville Daily News

The Department of Defense announced Wednesday the deaths in Afghanistan of three Camp Lejeune-based Marines assigned to Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command.

Staff Sgt. Patrick R. Dolphin, 29, of Moscow, Pa.; Sgt. Dennis E. Kancler, 26, of Brecksville, Ohio; and Sgt. Christopher M. Wrinkle, 29, of Dallastown, Pa., died July 31 in Herat Province, Afghanistan, according to DoD reports.

Dolphin, Kancler and Wrinkle were assigned to 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion, Marine Special Operations Regiment, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command.

According to MarSOC officials, the deaths were a result of a non-combat related incident that also left one Marine and one Soldier injured. Marine Corps Times reported that the three Marines and a military dog were killed when their living quarters caught fire in Afghanistan.

The incident is under investigation, officials said, and more information will not be released until the investigation is complete. The names of the injured troops have been withheld.

Jacksonville Daily News

Going to the Dogs.....How Service Dogs are helping more people

My MILBLOG seems to be going to the Dogs !!!!

As the casual reader might guess, I am keenly devoted to our four-legged friends and all that they can do for us.....

They are "devotion on 4 legs" and only worried about us....they live in the moment and show no concern for their own welfare, only that of their human companions.

I would like to work with organizations that increase the ability to utilize dogs for areas where people need assistance and where the K-9's physical abilities of smell, hearing, sight and presence can aid those who need a 24 hour a day companion. The Dog is a noble creature and one we can count on, just as he has counted on us for many centuries.

latimes.com
Service dogs are beyond fetching

Their use is growing. They help guide the blind, perform tasks for the physically disabled and may even help people with epilepsy and autism.
By Karen Ravn, Special to the Los Angeles Times
July 18, 2011

One moment 15-year-old Glen Gregos was a happy-go-lucky kid riding a motorcycle. The next he was the lucky-to-be-alive victim of a terrible accident, paralyzed from the chest down.

Now 54 and a resident of Woodland Hills, Gregos has built a rewarding life — college, marriage, a successful banking career, a daughter who just graduated from college.

Still, for decades after the accident, Gregos faced challenges every day from simple things most of us take for granted — going to the grocery store, going out the front door. And then six years ago, his life took another dramatic turn. He met Beulah — a.k.a. Miss Bo — a black Labrador retriever who has been at his side, 24/7, ever since — to open doors, carry bags, pull his wheelchair, pick up anything he drops on the floor and cheer up any black mood he falls into.

"It's hard to put into words everything these dogs do for you," he says. "It's physical. It's emotional. It's all-encompassing. You probably have to live it to understand it."

Miss Bo is not considered a pet. She's a service dog, a concept first introduced with guide (or seeing-eye) dogs for the blind, perhaps as far back as the 16th century, though it wasn't until 1929 that the first guide dog training school in the U.S. opened up. By the 1970s, people had started training dogs to help with other disabilities, and that trend has continued.

Service dogs now include dogs that can open cupboards and drawers, alert someone to a ringing telephone, assist someone during a disorienting seizure, help someone keep their balance or get back up after a fall, not to mention dogs that can sniff allergens in the air or low blood sugar on someone's breath.

"Here in the U.S. we have a highly individualistic culture — creative, experimental," says Lynette Hart, director of the Center for Animals in Society at UC Davis. "It's like a caldron for coming up with new things that dogs can do for us. And dogs love to work. It's a very natural marriage for them to help people."

This has been a boon for many who, like Gregos, have had their lives changed by some extraordinary dogs. But potential pitfalls abound. "There's almost no regulation," Hart says. "And everyone wants to do what they want to do."

Sometimes people want to call their dogs service dogs even though they're really not. And sometimes people want to believe dogs can do things even though there's no real proof they can.

Many dogs have a natural knack for providing comfort, companionship and emotional support to their people, who often consider that a pretty big service. But it doesn't make those dogs service dogs. Neither does a capacity for warding off crime by looking or sounding formidable. According to the 1990 Americans With Disabilities Act and new regulations put in place in March, a service dog must be trained to perform a service for a person with a disability that is directly related to the person's disability — turning lights on and off for someone who's paralyzed, for example, or alerting someone who's deaf that a smoke alarm is blaring.

Many organizations train one or more kinds of service dogs, and in general their programs follow a pattern set by the early guide dog training organizations: careful breeding followed by puppy-raising by volunteers who begin the basics of obedience and socialization, and finally intensive training by professionals. (Potential human recipients also are carefully screened, trained and matched to dogs.)

Guide Dogs for the Blind, the first guide dog training school on the West Coast, relies solely on Labrador retrievers, golden retrievers and crosses of the two. Training organizations for other types of service dogs often do too. "They have wonderful temperaments," says Katie Malatino, public relations coordinator for one such organization, Canine Companions for Independence, headquartered in Santa Rosa. "They're a good size for the tasks they have to do, and they have an instinct to retrieve, which comes in handy for picking things up off the floor."

Canine Companions for Independence provided Miss Bo to Gregos in November 2005. These days she is always on call if Gregos needs her, which is not to say that she never has any fun. "She has toys," he says. "We play ball. But once she gets vested up" — wearing the vest that identifies her as a service dog — "she knows, 'OK, I'm ready to work.' " (And people who see the vest should should know and respect that too.)

Like any good service dog, when she's working, Miss Bo is unperturbed by loud or unexpected noises ("bomb proof," Malatino calls it) and undistracted by other animals or people — unless Gregos gives her special dispensation. Which he often does.

"I put her in a 'sit' and let people pet her," he says. "I want to create more awareness about these special dogs. I wasn't aware of them myself for a long time. I'd think, 'What can a dog do for a guy in a wheelchair?' "

The Americans With Disabilities Act says service dogs get to go wherever their people go: grocery stores, restaurants, libraries, amusement parks, boats, buses, trains, planes and no-pets-allowed hotels. New regulations issued this spring establish two exceptions (which would surely never apply to Miss Bo): Service dogs can be banished if they get out of control or if they transact certain business indoors that should have been seen to outside.

Not everyone knows the rules. Gregos once spent several hours convincing officials at a hotel with a no-pets policy that they were obligated to let Miss Bo in. "One side of me thought, 'I don't want to stay here anyway,'" he says. "But the other part thought, 'They've got to be educated.' "

Even beyond the issue of ignorance, service dog use is not without controversy. One problem is cheaters.

"A lot of people try to skirt the system," Gregos says. "I see it all the time." Some will claim that their pet dogs are service dogs that help them with disabilities they don't really have — and they can get away with that, because the law doesn't require people to present proof of their own disability or their dog's capacity to deal with it. (It doesn't help that service dog vests are readily available online.) Proprietors may deny entrance to dogs that arouse their skepticism, and that's fine if they're right. If they're wrong, it can lead to a fine of a very different kind.

Another problem is that there are no industry-wide standards for trainers or dogs, leaving disabled people on their own to determine how much they should trust an organization's claims. "Guide Dogs for the Blind — they're very reputable," says Dr. Melissa Bain, chief of the Behavior Service at the UC Davis Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital. "If they graduate a dog, OK, I trust it." But not every organization has the same long history of success.

Of course, some claims are easier to validate than others. It's easy to see if a dog can pull a wheelchair or open a refrigerator door. But seizure prediction? "The trouble," Bain adds, "is if people rely on the dog and nothing else, that could be dangerous."

Sometimes the question isn't whether a particular dog can perform a task but whether some tasks are even canine-ly possible. Take seizure detection again. "Is that legitimate?" Bain says. "Maybe."

In 1999, a British epilepsy specialist and a behavioral scientist/animal trainer reported that by giving dogs a reward every time their owners had seizures, they had been able to train some dogs to warn of oncoming seizures as much as 15 to 45 minutes before the seizures occurred. Their paper in the journal Seizure inspired a demand for such dogs.

Today, the Epilepsy Foundation says on its website, "while some people have been very pleased with their new canine friends, others have been disappointed." The foundation "recommends that people take great care in reviewing trainer claims and results, especially when thousands of dollars are involved."

More questions arose in 2007 when four of the seven seizure-alert dogs in a study in the journal Neurology were found to be warning people of psychological, not epileptic, seizures. Psychological seizures, caused by mental stress, can often be eliminated through counseling — without drugs — making warnings beside the point. And in one case in that study, a dog's "warning behaviors" were found to set the seizures off.

Service dogs for children with autism have inspired a debate all their own, with some districts reluctant to allow the dogs into their schools because, they argue, the dogs cause too much trouble — other children may be scared or allergic; child and dog may require extra supervision.

But, in fact, the value of service dogs to children with autism is less controversial than it is for seizures. "One of the main things our dogs do is provide safety," says Kati Rule-Witco, executive director and placement specialist for Autism Service Dogs of America, a training organization founded in 2002 that's based in Lake Oswego, Ore. "Often children with autism will run off. Parents have trouble just going to the grocery store. Our dogs provide a way for families to go out safely."

A 2008 study in the journal Qualitative Health Research looked at what happened when service dogs were brought into 10 families with children with autism and found that they did, indeed, enhance safety and facilitate public outings. When the child and dog go out into the community together, the dog is tethered to the child but also connected to the adult caregiver since that's who holds the dog's leash. Autism service dogs are also trained to keep their cool no matter what their young charges do (hug, squeeze, lie on top of the dog) and to take positive steps to cope with negative behavior (nudge or lean against the child, maybe even stop the child from hurting himself).

All of this costs money, a lot of it. That's true for training any service dog. Some organizations — like Guide Dogs for the Blind and Canine Companions — can operate on donations alone. But not all. Autism Service Dogs of America says the average cost for breeding, raising, training and placing one of their dogs is $20,000, $13,500 of which families are required to pay before they are placed on the waiting list for the next available dog.

The website for Autism Service Dogs of America has testimonials from 10 satisfied families who use words like "awesome" and "miracle" to describe their dogs and the jobs they do. They firmly believe that their money was well spent. But not everyone is convinced.

Bain notes that research so far has not compared service dogs to ordinary family dogs, and she suggests the latter might do just about as well. "Maybe a child feels better sitting next to the dog," she says. "There's no way to tell if special training does any good."

Gregos has no such questions about the good that Miss Bo's special training has done for him. But she'll be 8 in August, and the time is coming when she'll need to retire and he'll need to get a new service dog. Then Miss Bo will change from service dog to pet dog and spend the rest of her days with the man who says that having her has been "magical since Day One."

“We consider the dog another Marine.” - The role K-9 Soldiers play in keeping our troops safe in Afghanistan

The love between Men & Dogs started about 15000 years ago when we tamed the first ancestors to our K-9 companions. We offered them shelter and easy access to food...in turn, they would help us hunt and protect us from the things that lurked in the dark that wanted to make us their food....

This simple arrangement is likely the longest unbroken contract in human history. Dogs offer us unbound love and devotion. In return, all they want is for us to be there for them. The military forces here in Afghanistan count on our K-9 soldiers for their lives.....I am glad we have them here as they make things better & safer for all of us.

The Dogs of War: Beloved Comrades in Afghanistan

By ELISABETH BUMILLER - NY TIMES
Published: May 11, 2011

WASHINGTON — Marines were on a foot patrol last fall in the Taliban stronghold of Marja, Afghanistan, when they shot and killed a lethal threat: a local dog that made the mistake of attacking the Marines’ Labrador retriever.

Capt. Manuel Zepeda, the commander of Company F, Second Battalion, Sixth Marines, was unapologetic. If the Lab on the patrol had been hurt, the Marines would have lost their best weapon for detecting roadside bombs — and would have called for a medevac helicopter, just as they would for a human. An attack on the Lab was an attack on a fellow warrior.

As Captain Zepeda put it that day, “We consider the dog another Marine.”

The classified canine that went on the Navy Seals’ raid of Osama bin Laden’s compound last week has generated a wave of interest in military dogs, which have been used by the United States since at least World War I. Now, more valued than ever, they are on their own surge into Afghanistan.

American troops may be starting to come home this summer, but more dogs are going in. In 2007, the Marines began a pilot program in Afghanistan with nine bomb-sniffing dogs, a number that has grown to 350 and is expected to reach nearly 650 by the end of the year. Over all, there are some 2,700 dogs on active duty in the American military. A decade ago, before the Sept. 11 attacks, there were 1,800.

“Most of the public isn’t aware of what these dogs add to national security,” said Gerry Proctor, a spokesman for training programs at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, including the Military Working Dog School. Dogs are used for protection, pursuit, tracking and search and rescue, but the military is also increasingly relying on them to sniff out the homemade bombs that cause the vast majority of American casualties in Afghanistan. So far, no human or human-made technology can do better.

Within the military, the breeds of choice are generally the German shepherd and a Belgian shepherd, or Malinois, but Marines in Afghanistan rely on pure-bred Labrador retrievers because of the dogs’ good noses and nonaggressive, eager-to-please temperaments. Labs now accompany many Marine foot patrols in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan, wandering off-leash 100 yards or more in front as bomb detectors. It is the vital work of an expensively trained canine (the cost to the American military can be as high as $40,000 per dog), but at the end of a sweltering day, sometimes a Lab is still a Lab.

Last spring on a patrol in Helmand’s Garmsir District, a Lab, Tango, was leading a small group of Marines on a dirt road leading into a village when the dog suddenly went down on all fours, wagging his tail — a sign that he had detected explosives nearby. The patrol froze as a Marine explosives team investigated. No bomb was found and the patrol continued, but on the way back the dog, miserable in the 102-degree heat and like most Labrador retrievers a good swimmer, abandoned his duties and leaped into an irrigation canal to cool off. But then he could not climb back up the steep bank. One of the Marines, swearing lustily, finally jumped into the canal and carried the dog out in his arms.

The bonds that grow in battle between the Labs and their Marine handlers are already the stuff of heart-tugging war stories. But few have had the emotional impact of that of Pfc. Colton W. Rusk, a 20-year-old Marine machine gunner and dog handler who was killed in December by sniper fire in Sangin, one of the most deadly areas in Helmand. During his deployment, Private Rusk sent his parents a steady flow of pictures and news about his beloved bomb dog, Eli, a black Lab. When Private Rusk was shot, Marine officers told his parents, Eli crawled on top of their son to try to protect him.

The 3-year-old Eli, the first name of the survivors listed in Private Rusk’s obituary, was retired early from the military and adopted in February by Private Rusk’s parents, Darrell and Kathy Rusk. “He’s a big comfort to us,” Kathy Rusk said in a telephone interview from her home in Orange Grove, Tex. After the dog’s retirement ceremony in February at Lackland Air Force Base, an event that generated enormous news coverage in Texas, the Rusks brought Eli for the first time into their home. “The first place he went was Colton’s room,” Mrs. Rusk said. “He sniffed around and jumped up on his bed.”

So far, 20 Labrador retrievers out of the 350 have been killed in action since the Marine program began, most in explosions of homemade bombs, Marine officials said. Within the Special Operations Command, the home of the dog that went on the Bin Laden mission, some 34 dogs were killed in the line of duty between 2006 and 2009, said Maj. Wes Ticer, a spokesman. Like their handlers, dogs that survive go on repeat deployments, sometimes as many as four. Dogs retire from the military at the age of 8 or 9.

To an American public weary of nearly 10 years of war, dogs are a way to relate, as the celebrity status of the still-unknown commando dog proved. (President Obama is one of the few Americans to have met the dog, in a closed-door session with the Seal team last week.)

Few understand the appeal of dogs in battle better than Rebecca Frankel, the deputy managing editor of ForeignPolicy.com. Last week, she posted a “War Dog” photo essay, with her favorite pictures of dogs jumping out of helicopters, skydiving from 30,000 feet and relaxing with Marines. The photo essay went viral, with 6.5 million page views to date — a record for the site.

“I think people go weak at the knees for these dogs,” Ms. Frankel said in an interview. “I do, too. But their contribution is significant. These are serious dogs.”

Good Dog, Eli. Semper Fi

The bond between this Marine and his K-9 Battle Buddy in Afghanistan was unbreakable and "Eli" ran to PFC Rusk when he was struck down. Now, Eli has a new mission - to comfort PFC Rusk's parents.

I am sure he will be as dedicated to this mission as he was to his partner on the Battlefield.

Good Dog, Eli. Semper Fi.

Fallen Marine's Parents Adopt Son's Bomb Dog
Myfoxdc.com

Published : Thursday, 03 Feb 2011, 7:06 AM EST

SAN ANTONIO - The parents of a U.S. Marine killed in Afghanistan are adopting the bomb-sniffing dog who the military says loyally rushed to their son's side when he was fatally shot.

Darrell and Kathy Rusk were expected to take home Eli on Thursday. The black Labrador is being retired from military service following the death of Pfc. Colton Rusk. The military says the 20-year-old Texan died in December during a gun battle with Taliban fighters.

Rusk was the handler for Eli, who is trained to sniff out explosives. After their son was killed in combat, the Rusks asked the military if they could adopt the dog.

The transfer will take place at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. The base is training headquarters for all dogs used by the U.S. military

As Posted

http://www.cpwda.com/k9_handlers_kilod_2010_2019.htm


The Connecticut Police Work Dog Association

Pfc. Colton W. Rusk, 20, of Orange Grove, Texas, died Dec. 6 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.

He was fatally shot while searching with his K9 Eli, a black Labrador retriever, along with six other Marines in the attack. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on November 2, 2009 and was serving his first combat deployment where he was serving as a K-9 handler. He was chosen to be sent to South Carolina to American K-9 Interdiction to train for Improvised Explosive Device Detector dog handler. Certified on 6-18-10. It was here that he and Eli became a team.

He along with Eli left for Afghanistan on his 20th birthday 9-23-10. His awards include, the Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Afghanistan Campaign Medal. Pfc. Colton Rusk was buried on 12/18/10 at Orange Grove Cemetery in Texas where approximately one thousand mourners paid their respects. In lieu of flowers the family has requested donation be made to the Colton Rusk Memorial, C/O Value Bank Texas, P.O. Box 4956, Corpus Christi, Texas 78469.

Support "Military Working Dog Adoptions" - Help find homes for our 4 legged Veterans !

Rode the train home tonight from Boston and had to inform a fellow rider on the value of dogs....not just as our companions & friends but for the value they add to our lives along with thier incredible ability to protect our Soldiers & Marines in the field...

He was trying to espouse support for VICK-THE-DOG-KILLER and I told him that the only thing that stupid bastard deserved was to be staked out for the buzzards....He was not convinced but he acted like a clueless idjit...typical clueless citizen who has never had to see what life is really worth and how much Veterans and our K-9 companions have to do to preserve it.

Dogs, especially those who have served the military in the field are more than just trained animals....They are HEROES, in every sense of the word.....

Here is the story of another hero....a lady making sure our foru-legged veterans get a chance for a new life once they leave the service....Way to go Ma'am.


Retired Military Working Dog Rescued By Borderland Volunteer
By ABC-7 Reporter Gaby Loria
POSTED: 6:45 pm MST January 6, 2011

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- A Las Cruces woman is making it her mission to rescue abandoned war veterans. She says these unsung heroes have some of the toughest jobs in the military...often braving dangerous battle zones to sniff out bombs and save lives. But these aren't your average soldiers-- they're the canine kind!

Debbie Kandoll traveled to Jacksonville, North Carolina to pick up Cleo, a retired military working dog. "This is Cleo's first day as a civilian," she said.

Kandoll explained Cleo is trained to sniff out explosives. The dog has served two 7-month tours in Iraq where handlers would strap her into a vest attached with walkie-talkies and a headset. Kandoll said the dog would be sent to sniff out danger while her handler guided her around a battle zone through verbal commands on the headset.

"She's saved so many lives," said Kandoll. Now Kandoll and the volunteers at her non-profit organization are returning the favor. "Military Working Dog Adoptions" is based out of Las Cruces. They place retired military and police dogs in loving homes across the country.

Kandoll said many retired dogs end up in shelters after they've served their community. Some end up getting euthanized, as could have been the case with Cleo. "I feel certain that her fate would have been euthanasia. It would have been evry difficult to adopt her out because her medication is very expensive," said Kandoll.

Cleo suffers from a stress-related disease. Donations from medication manufacturers and the general public have covered the cost of Cleo's meds for a couple of months. Doctors from the Northeast Veterinary Clinic in El Paso also opened their hearts to their pooch-- thanks to their donations, Kandoll was able to fly to North Carolina to pick her up.

If you're interested in adopting Cleo or learning more about "Military Working Dog Adoptions" just visit their website or give them a call. The phone mumber is (505) 990-8147. Their site is www.militaryworkingdogadoptions.com

Happy 2011 !!! - Jet-a-Pet reunites strays in war-torn regions with soldiers back home....

HAPPY 2011 to all !

Hope that this Year will be a happier one for you & yours!

------------------------------------------------------


Pups need help and a man from Connecticut dedicates his life to being there for man's best friends...especially our military working dogs - awesome stuff !!!

Volunteers in the News, Business

Dogs of War: Creature Comforts from Iraq, Afghanistan - locally-based Jet-a-Pet reunites strays in war-torn regions with soldiers back home.
By Chandra Niles Folsom - Westport, CT

Man's best friend in the war zone would often have to be left behind. Thanks to a Westport resident's organization, that is no longer the case.

It was 1987 when Westport's Town House for Dogs & Cats founder Mel Goldman changed direction in a career spent caring for animals.

With all the heartbreaking stories circulating about pet owners' experiences transporting their animals onboard commercial flights, Mel and his wife Sandra decided to launch their own critter airline of sorts dubbed Jet-a-Pet.

It would become the foundation for a venture the Goldmans embarked on with a not-for-profit organization to reunite American soldiers with the stray dogs they befriended while at war.

The former stable boy from Brooklyn discovered his calling during the summer of 1969 when he worked on a dude ranch out west. It was there that he met his future bride.

"Sandra asked me to go to a dog show with her where she'd entered her St. Bernard puppy—but she actually had an ulterior motive," recalled Goldman.

Because his new girlfriend wasn't confident that she could handle the pup in the ring, she sweet-talked Mel into helping out.

"I did and we won the blue ribbon." Mel said. "Soon, we became breeders of St. Bernards and moved up to Connecticut."

In 1972, Goldman received a license from the American Kennel Club(AKC) to handle dogs. However the honor was relatively short-lived because a later court ruling prohibited the AKC from issuing those licenses.

"Nevertheless, having had the license in the first place was an important milestone in the formation of my career," Goldman said.

The couple went on with the Goldmans raising two daughters. After the kids left the nest, the couple found themselves with some extra time on their hands to devote to new doggie ventures.

"That was when I had a brainstorm to start an animal freight forwarding business," explained Goldman.

He trademarked the name Jet-a-Pet and set up a website.

"The military was the main thrust of my efforts and as a result we made over 120 shipments of animals over the next few years," Goldman said.

The business also provides door-to-door delivery, relocating pets for corporate clients, and shipping show dogs throughout the world.

Then came the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Goldman started hearing news reports about military personnel adopting abandoned dogs while on active duty but unable to bring them home when they left. The dog lover knew that he was in the perfect position to help when the call came.

However it wasn't as easy as Goldman had imagined.

"It was a very involved process but I wanted to reunite soldiers with their loving animals and so we managed to find various ways," he said.

There are other non-profit organizations in our area that have done work for animals along the lines of sending care packages to military dogs overseas.

Organizations including Give2TheTroops.org and supportmilitaryworkingdogs.org have shipped items such as doggles (dog goggles) muttluks (dog boots), K9 bulletproof vests and other protective gear. Military dogs are subject to the same dangers as human soldiers yet are not first on the list to receive protective supplies from the U.S. government.

Another problem is access to veterinarians. Only a few are deployed with U.S. forces and they are thinly spread.

Military working dogs first entered the U.S. armed forces in March of 1942 to serve in the Army's K-9 Corps. By 2004, an estimated 2,300 military dogs were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, the vast majority of them German and Dutch shepherds, Labradors and Belgian Malinois.

Bred for cooler climates, these dogs suffer through sandstorms and blistering heat that can reach 135F while performing duties that include base security, individual and crowd control, tracking insurgents and explosives detection.

And with the vast numbers of civilian casualties and displacement, many pets end up homeless in the war zones. Some soldiers even manage to find time to care for hungry dogs and cats, bringing them food and water.

Thanks to Jet-a-Pet many of them have found new homes in the States.

"We were determined to get those brave soldiers reunited with their pets at all costs and as a result of those successes felt a sense of accomplishment that far exceeded any remuneration we may have received from the business," said Goldman

http://www.jet-a-pet.com/

Micromanagers - The Cancer of good morale and poison to exceptional effort

In my humble opinion, there is a disease loose in the world of business that is a Cancer to good morale and exceptional efforts - That poison is " Micromangement "

Defined as " a manager who rather than giving general instructions on smaller tasks and then devoting his time to supervising larger concerns, the micromanager monitors and assesses every step of a business process and avoids delegation of decisions.

Micromanagers are usually irritated when a subordinate makes decisions without consulting them, even if the decisions are totally within the subordinate's level of authority."

I worked for a couple of these and they were able to suck the oxygen right out of any room they entered.....Enclosed is a good Leadership lesson on how to avoid being one of these curmudgeons....Don't be that guy.

THEORY & PRACTICE
Micromanagers Miss Bull's-Eye
Dealing With Every Detail Robs Subordinates of the Freedom to Solve Problems.
By CARI TUNA - WSJ.com

Two years ago, Greg Cushard was leading eight or nine meetings a week at Rubicon Oil Co., the truck-refueling company he founded and runs. He would interrupt conversations among subordinates, identify mistakes and make even mundane decisions, he says.

"I acted like a quarterback ... more than a coach," Mr. Cushard says. He had little time to think about the business. Employees "stopped making suggestions because they were afraid they'd get shot down."

Prompted by advice from his top lieutenants and executive coach, Mr. Cushard resolved to stop micromanaging. Leadership experts say micromanagers -- from small-business owners to managers in large organizations -- share an unwillingness to trust subordinates; still, many can be successful, to a point.

Former President Jimmy Carter was known to personally review requests for White House tennis courts. Martha Stewart once described herself as a "maniacal micromanager" who had to "understand every part of the business to be able to maximize those businesses." Former Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner ordered stronger bulbs put in reading lights in Disney hotels.

The best managers help employees learn to work independently by giving them meaningful responsibilities, organizational coach Diane Foster says. "Who wants to be in a company where you are not allowed to think?"

Michael Hakkert, vice president of corporate marketing for Blue Coat Systems Inc., says he struggled with the urge to micromanage in his first supervisory job at Cisco Systems Inc. 10 years ago. Mr. Hakkert says he would act as an intermediary between subordinates and other Cisco employees instead of letting employees own their projects.

"It was very difficult to understand when to continue to roll up my sleeves and when to actually delegate," he recalls. A leadership-development class and mentor at Cisco helped Mr. Hakkert realize that good managers facilitate the work of their subordinates, whether or not they help create the final products.

Frontline workers often are best suited to identify problems and suggest creative solutions, says Ira Bryck, director of University of Massachusetts's Family Business Center in Hadley, Mass. But when conditioned to rely on a heavy-handed manager for guidance, employees become complacent, he says.

Managers should give employees goals and leave them to work out the details, Mr. Bryck says. They should resist the temptation to take control when subordinates make minor mistakes.

Some micromanagers need a push from others to break the habit. Mr. Bryck recalls the CEO of a small software company who asked him why employees didn't follow instructions. After interviewing employees, Mr. Bryck determined they resented the boss's heavy hand. He asked the employees to rewrite the CEO's job description to help him understand where his guidance wasn't necessary.

At Rubicon, the truck-refueling company, Mr. Cushard started leaving meetings after briefly setting the tone and agenda. He soon stopped attending some altogether, appointing others to lead in his place. Rubicon, Sacramento, Calif., has about 40 employees.

"When the CEO became a member of the meeting and not the center of the meeting, so much more got accomplished," says Tim Johnson, Rubicon's head of sales.

For example, Rubicon's accountants thrived when left to decide how to tackle the department's goals, Mr. Cushard says. They trimmed the average time to collect a payment to about 23 days, from 31 days.

"They did not want me there," Mr. Cushard says. "My presence hindered thinking."

But Rubicon's operations department initially "failed miserably because I had the wrong person" running the department, he says. The operations head purchased three more refueling trucks than the company needed -- for $175,000 each -- at a time when business was slowing. The trucks sat idle for months before they could be rotated into use.

Mr. Cushard ultimately fired the manager and split the operations department into two smaller groups that are easier to manage. "You instantly find out who's good and who's not by ... putting the ball in their court," he says.

Today, Rubicon employees take turns running meetings. Leaders periodically follow up with co-workers, creating more accountability within departments, Mr. Cushard says.

Mark Goulston, a Los Angeles-based management consultant, likes that approach. "It gives everyone the opportunity ... to feel what it's like to try to keep people on track," he says.

Mr. Cushard now attends three or four meetings a week; subordinates send updates from the rest. In his newfound spare time, Mr. Cushard launched a second company, a fuel clearinghouse that tracks oil prices.

As owners, "we think we know best, but we don't, not all of the time," he says. "I realized that it's not all about me."

Write to Cari Tuna at cari.tuna@wsj.com

Printed in The Wall Street Journal

K-9 Heroes in Iraq & Afghanistan receive thanks from home via care packages from New Jersey

U.S. soldier Jason Phillips, with Duco, a military war dog, on patrol in Afghanistan.

All I can say is that if you have to be out there in the shite-wilds of Afghanistan, you would find yourself very very lucky to have a K-9 companion as they have been proven to be 98% effective in detecting IEDs and other dangers.......God Bless our K-9 Veterans....They have proven their worth over & over again.


Canine heroes receive thanks
BY JUSTO BAUTISTA
NorthJersey.com

Valentine Cholminski and Tony Sigismondi are making care packages at the American Legion Post 227. "Dog biscuits! This is a first!" said Tony Sigismondi as he and fellow veterans from American Legion Post 227 in Totowa prepared to ship the biscuits and other dog treats and supplies overseas. "It was very unusual. Nobody ever thinks of the dogs, it's always the humans."

Seven hundred military dogs currently are serving side-by-side with American soldiers in the Middle East, said Ron Aiello, president of the U.S. War Dogs Association, based in Burlington.

In Iraq, the dogs are stationed at checkpoints and border crossings to sniff out explosives and drugs. Their duties have been expanded to include leading patrols and searching buildings for booby traps. In Afghanistan, the dogs also are used in mine-clearing operations.

"A lot of people still don't know dogs are used in the military," said Aiello, 66, who served as a Marine dog handler in Vietnam.

The decision to send care packages to military dogs in Afghanistan and Iraq was the brainchild of Christopher Hamlett, a shy 13-year-old from Mountainside whose mother, Michelle, is a history teacher at Eastside High School in Paterson.

Christopher said he was inspired by stories his mother told him about his grandfather, Stanley Hamlett, who was a military policeman and dog handler in Vietnam.

For the past three years, students at Eastside have been sending care packages to soldiers in the Middle East. Christopher wanted to get involved as part of a social studies project. If soldiers welcomed care packages from home, he reasoned, surely military dogs would, too.

"He was so touched by these dogs," Michelle Hamlett said. "The thought of dogs, basically, being trained to lose their lives broke his heart."

Christopher talked to veterans, and distributed about 1,000 fliers throughout Mountainside and Eastside High. The students and residents responded with donations.

"It got to the point where I had car loads — nine boxes — that I was taking to Eastside," Michelle Hamlett said.

"It's the right thing to do," Christopher, an eighth-grade student at Mountainside's Deerfield School, said of the project.

There was one problem. Eastside could not afford the postage.

"It would be way too expensive for us," Michelle Hamlett said.

Gloria Van Houten, an Eastside teacher who helped direct the project, turned to Post 227, and the veterans came through.

"It [postage] cost about $40 a box," Sigismondi said. He said the post collected money at fund-raising events to cover the cost of sending the boxes to the war zones.

In addition to $500 worth of dog biscuits and dog treats, Sigismondi, 79, a Korean War veteran, said his post also sent items traditionally requested by troops, such as toiletries.

The canine packages, which included flea and tick collars, squeaky toys, dog treats and puppy paw wipes, were sent last week with a goal of getting them to the war zones in time for Thanksgiving.

Aiello, of the U.S. War Dogs Association, served with the Marines' first scout-dog platoon in 1966 in Vietnam, where eventually as many as 5,000 dogs were deployed for scout, guard and tracking duty.

"Our job was to lead patrols, day and night," Aiello said. His dog, Stormy, a German shepherd, used the smell in the air to detect danger.

"We worked with the wind," Aiello said. "If there was an ambush ahead or a sniper in a tree, or a booby trap down a trail, Stormy would stop and kneel, and I would say, 'What do you see girl?' And I would report a possible enemy ambush at 11 o'clock in that tree line."

A dog's nose is "10 times stronger than a human's," Aiello said. "An analogy is that we smell spaghetti. A dog can smell the sauce, the tomatoes, the pepper, the oregano."

When U.S. troops pulled out of Vietnam, some of the dogs were turned over to the South Vietnamese Army. Others were euthanized.

"At the end of the war, there were 3,000 dogs left," Aiello said. "We gave 1,700 to the South Vietnam military; the rest were euthanized. We didn't like that."

Aiello said he doesn't know what happened to Stormy.

After Vietnam, the war dog program was disbanded, only to be started again after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Military dogs are no longer euthanized when their tours are done. They are retired or put up for adoption, Aiello said.

The most common breed deployed to the Middle East is the Belgian shepherd, also known as Malinois, Aiello said. Most are trained at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Aiello said it is not unusual for dog handlers stationed in remote parts of Afghanistan to ask for basic items such as feeding bowls, dog shampoo and rope chews. His association also sends leashes and dog harnesses, equipment the handlers cannot readily purchase in a war zone.

"We try to give them a little bit of home," Aiello said. "It keeps their morale up."

E-mail: bautista@northjersey.com

Help support Military Working Dogs - www.supportmilitaryworkingdogs.org

US Navy Jeep supports our K-9 Veterans as they are vital to assisting the troops and keeping our military safe.....Enclosed is info on a charity that provides cooling vests for deployed K-9s...it gets pretty hot over there in the Middle east and Afghanistan.....think what the poor pups go through.

Their mission is simple - To provide cooling vests, and other protective gear such as Doggles, MuttLuks, and any other necessary gear to help the Military Working Dogs in Iraqs extreme conditions, who in turn protect and serve our Soldiers.

Read the enclosed and see what you can do to assist this great effort.

Military dogs need funding help
Military mother shows off dog's skills to students
Monday, 15 Nov 2010, 6:27 AM EST

ENON, Ohio (WDTN) - Students at Hustead School in Clark County were excited to hear what Starline Nunley had to say and maybe even more excited to see her dog Tushpa on Thursday.

Tushpa is not trained for military missions, but Nunley, who's son is a soldier, wants people to know that there are dogs who are saving soldiers' lives in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and they need help.

The dogs sniff for bombs and perform search and rescue missions and provide therapy for the soldiers.

The dogs are protected with vests that keep their core body temperature below 103 degrees; doggles that protect their eyes from sand and shrapnel; and paw protectors.

If you would like to help military dogs you can do so by using Nunley's web site,

http://www.supportmilitaryworkingdogs.org/.