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(picture
of Heather & her Military working dog "Benny", taken before the war started)
The following e-mail
is an update reply to the "Tirbute To War Dogs" link.
Hello, my name is Heather Cooper, I am a K-9 handler
for the U.S. Air Force. I read your page about the military working dogs and I would like to share some updates with you.
The military has come along ways in recognizing the amazing duties the Military dogs do. Many of the dogs are now receiving
retirement ceremonies, funeral ceremonies when they pass on, they receive letters of appreciation, commendation letters and
so forth. I do wish they would be honored with medals like they once were and I hope that happens one day.
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The
biggest change that has happened is that the dogs are now allowed to be adopted out if they do not make the grade upon training
and when they retire. If the dog retires at it's base then the handler has first option in adopting the animal without it
having to be transported back to Lackland. If the dog is a "trainer" at Lackland for students and is retired then
it is also put up for adoption by either handlers, civilian officers or the public. This is a giant milestone the military
has overcome and I think it should be commended. I say this to you just because I noticed that you still say on your website
that the dogs are euthanized when they can no longer work, and thankfully this is no longer practiced. Thank you for your
time and thank you for taking the time to recognize these amazing animals. Heather The following is an email from a
customer regarding scout dogs: Hi Cathy,
Thought I'd mention to you how great your website
is! I've gathered a great deal of information that will be extremely useful in raising the pup.
I also thank
you for your recognition of war dogs and support of the troops. As I may have mentioned, I retired from the Army after
24 years of service. I spent most all of my military time flying helicopters and perhaps the defining part of my career
was the year I served as a medevac (medical evacuation) pilot in 1967-1968. I noticed after reading the scout dogs/handlers
killed in action during those years was extraordinarily high. Of interest, our company had a triage ranking for casualties
because sometimes we didn't have enough helicopters or pilots to fly all missions, so we had to prioritize. You might
be interested to know that our priorities were as follows:
1.American GI's & Scout Dogs
2.Coalition forces;
ie South Vietnamese, Koreans, Australians and mercenaries
3.Vietnamese civilians
4.POW's
If we had several
missions, one for a scout dog only and any of the rest of the triage priorities, we went for the dog. That's how important
they were to us.
One of the sad tales of our departure from Vietnam was the desertion of our dogs. I'm not
sure that they could have integrated back into society, but their service and valor deserved a better end in my opinion.
I shudder to think how often it was that we had to evacuate dogs. And, of course, when a dog needed evacuation,
the handler was sure to go because they were such an integral team. I quickly developed tremendous respect for the great
things scout dogs did.
Dave Pearsall Support
our Troops! www.troopsupportusa.com/ Tunisian Sniper Scout/German Krieghund strangevehicles.greyfalcon.us:80/krieghund.htm Dog care, breeds, training & picturesDOG
CAREEducational guide to in-depth knowledge of dog's breeds, training, care & more.
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Cathy's
must have books to read: The Total German Shepherd by Fred Lanting The
German Shepherd Today by Strickland & Moses Cesar's Way by Cesar Millan Canine
Good Citizen by Jack & Wendy Volhard Natural Health for Dogs & Cats by Pitcairn &
Pitcairn Dog Bible by Kristin Mehus-Roe Monks of New Skete books
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