Military Working Dogs, or MWD's have been used as far back in recorded history as 600 B.C. War dogs, such as a now-extinct cousin of the Mastiff, were used to both kill and strike fear into the enemy. Though they have been used throughout history for various tasks, from beasts of burden to sentries, their modern counterparts came into play during the great world wars. In WW2, there were even dogs that were outfitted with their own parachutes, and participated in a British Parachuting Regiments jump on D-Day! Today we have over 2500 working dogs in the military, and tens of thousands more spread over police departments and government agencies. Their numbers will continue to grow as we continue to realize their importance.
We created @specialforcesmedics in order to highlight what SF life is all about, and over the past 3 years, we have strived to do just that. However, we also recognize that the experiences we have had doesn’t perfectly mirror what life is like for every SF guy, such is the dynamic of team life and worldwide deployments. For these reasons, we will occasionally highlight the contribution of different elements of team life in order to provide a better window into the lives of SF guys and our deployments, as well as what motivates Ready Warrior LLC to do what we do.
It was our honor to work with fine dog handlers and their MWD’s during our time in the military. The courage they showed, the impact they made and the confidence they gave us day in and day out cannot be overemphasized. Sadly, we also saw the impact that war can have on the K9’s, as one of our dogs was sent home for PTSD (sadly, they get it too) and others injured or killed in the line of duty. Some of our bomb sniffing dogs were as friendly and gentle as could be, while others were little fur missiles who I swear could survive off their hate for…..let’s just say non-team guys!
This week, we will be featuring some K9’s that we or our friends have worked with during deployments to highlight their contribution and accomplishments. We also know that hard working K9’s are part of many military units, police forces and in the community, and we want to show our appreciation for all they, their handlers and trainers bring to the fight.
As a way to acknowledge these hard working teams, moving forward we will be selecting one K9 account/handler per month to receive our K9 Quick Reference Guide for free! What the heck are we talking about?
Well…..
Soon after starting Ready Warrior LLC and producing our medic guides, we started getting messages from K9 handlers in the military and law enforcement agencies asking if we had a K9 Quick Reference Guide in the works. We did not. We were never dog handlers and never delved deep into K9 medicine, and thought these factors precluded us from being able to offer this as a guide. However, these requests became so frequent that it became evident that there was a true need for one to be written. It became our new obsession to learn as much as we could about K9 medicine. We talked with dog handlers, spoke with veterinarians, and most importantly, partnered with K911 Tactical to make sure we got it right the entire way. The response has been tremendous, and we sold out of our first printing in record time for guides.
We want to get these guides into the hands of every handler out there, because we truly believe in them and the impact they can have on saving a dog’s life.
So standby for future IG posts about how to nominate your favorite working dog and their handler for the chance to win a free K9 Quick Reference Guide! If you have any stories or photos of a K9 you worked with, drop us a line via DM on IG or here on the site.
