November 2014 Military Working Dog Team Support Association, Inc. Award Winning Monthly Newsletter MWDTSA KENNEL TALK Volume 6, Issue 11 www.mwdtsa.org Support MWDTSA now and you won’t miss any of the photos, stories, news and highlights of 2014! Kennel Talk is an award winning MWD publication! Inside this issue: PFC Jared Bridges, a military working dog handler , calms Soldiers Help Out 1 Arno, a military working dog, Teammate with Retirement during a retirement assess- ment, Sept. 4, 2014, at Fort 2015 MWDTSA 3 Campbell, Ky. Arno is retiring Calendars from military service due to lymphoma cancer after more Howl-O-Ween 4 than six years of service. More Kongs for K9s 6 (U.S. Army photos by SGT Locations Leejay Lockhart, 101st Sus- tainment Brigade Public Af- Bark in the Park 7 fairs) Top Dogs Paw Festival 8 Thank You to 8 Veteran Dog Handlers Veteran’s Day Reminder 9 To My Beloved Zizi 10 From the Archives 12 MWDTSA touches the lives of dogs and people near and far. This month, our Kennel Talk Soldiers Help Out Teammate reports stretch from coast to coast ponce With Retirement again: from Virginia to Kentucky to Georgia Story by SGT Leejay Lockhart, and on to California. 101st Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs We also present a love story that starts in Italy FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. - Like most weekdays, Shau Valley Road that made it unusual. loud voices and shouting rang through the and ends in California. early morning air at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. What made this morning different was that Our Archive photo is However, this morning was different. It wasn’t much of the noise was coming from two Sol- from Europe, take dur- just the incredibly thick gray fog clinging to diers wearing civilian attire, loudly arguing ing World War I. the dewy grass that made it different. Nor was over a dog. it the unusually large numbers of Soldiers conducting conditioning foot marches on A The argument continued to grow louder then Subscribe to see where we connect next month! MWD Retirement continued on page 2 Page 2 MWDTSA KENNEL TALK November 2014 www.mwdtsa.org MWD Retirement continued from page 1 the aggressor started getting physi- “They’re more than just dogs. They cal by pushing and shoving the Sol- are also other Soldiers and also mili- dier holding the leash. Close by, two tary policemen as we look at them,” members of the 510th Military Police said Rose. “So we don’t look at them Detachment, 716th Military Police as just a piece of equipment. They Battalion, supported by the 101st are a living, breathing thing. Plus, Sustainment Brigade, 101st Airborne you get bonded with these dogs. Division, watched intently and one Even for me in my position, I don’t even made a video of the entire al- get to train with the dogs every day, tercation. but I’m still around them every day. So it’s like seeing a Soldier retire or While the shoving and shouting con- ETS [expiration of time in service]. tinued, Arno, the veteran military You don’t want to see that Soldier working dog, tried to insert himself go.” between his handler and the female aggressor, with no result. Then with Though these canine Soldiers aren’t a word, Staff SGT Jonathan Rose, the treated like equipment, they perform kennel master for the 510th MP Det., like fine-tuned machines in a job ended the fracas. Rose then checked where even machines fall short. to ensure SGT Michael Holmes, a dog handler also with the 510th MP Det., “Arno was a great dog,” said Rose. had properly documented both the “From my time here for the past two verbal altercation and the shoving years, he had approximately six or episode. seven finds of illegal narcotics be- tween spice and marijuana. It helped “Today we’re doing a disposition vid- really curb the amount of illegal eo for MWD [military working dog] drugs coming onto this post.” Arno, who has lymphoma cancer, so he’s on his way out the door to re- Rose described the dog handler and tirement,” said Rose, a native of his dog as a potent force on both the Massena, New York. “Once we’ve battlefield and in garrison. done this video, we’ll turn it over to the vet, and he’ll do an assessment “We are an enabler,” said Rose. “So on the video plus the rest of the doc- we provide a searching asset that uments in the packet.” once again cannot be replicated by man nor machine.” “The packet includes recommenda- tions from the kennel master and the The quarrel’s instigator, SPC Saman- commander in charge of the military tha Ramirez, had walked across the working dog detachment along with misty field, while the person holding the video and reports from the dog’s Arno’s leash, PFC Jared Bridges, both veterinarian, which go to the vet’s dog handlers with the 510th MP Det., supervisor who determines if Arno is calmed Arno. Although the dispute a candidate for adoption or not,” said seemed heated, it was actually a Rose. carefully planned portion of the vid- eo. “When a dog retires many of the Soldiers who work with them find it “It’s kind of hard to come up on the touches them on a personal level, spot with what to say,” said Bridges, “said Rose. a native of Manassas, Virginia, about the argument. “So usually we just Top: SPC Samantha Ramirez, a military working dog handler with the 510th Military Police Detachment, braces as Arno lunges at her during a retirement assessment . Middle: Arno, and SPC Samantha Ramirez (left) and PFC Jared Bridges (right) perform a scenario to determine his aggressiveness. Several scenarios were recorded for the veterinarian who would make an assessment of Arno's suitability for adoption after he retires. Bottom: SPC Samantha Ramirez and PFC Jared Bridges simulate having an argument to determine if Arno, a military working dog, would show aggressiveness during the MWD Retirement continued on page 3 altercation. November 2014 MWDTSA KENNEL TALK Page 3 www.mwdtsa.org MWD Retirement continued from page 2 say your dog pooped on my yard scene of a crime causes people to and we just go back and forth from comply. there.” “If I show up on the scene of a do- Once the video starts, they cannot mestic [disturbance report] or any- quit until they have reached the al- thing like that, usually some people lotted time without pausing or stop- just stop and say ‘arrest me. I didn’t ping the video. Otherwise, they have do it,’ or ‘I did it. I give up.’” to start over and do the segment again. The final scene for the video was of Arno being ordered to attack the Moments later, after Ramirez, a na- aggression sleeve, which was now tive of Fort Knox, Kentucky, donned on the ground a few feet from a large padded arm protector called Ramirez. According to the handlers, an aggression sleeve; the team occasionally an aggressive dog started making their next portion of would still lunge at the handler and Above: SPC Samantha Ramirez shoves PFC the video. Bridges released Arno, not the equipment. Arno bolted for Jared Bridges during a simulated quarrel to and directed him to attack the the sleeve and showed no aggres- determine if Arno, a military working dog, sleeve. It took only seconds for the sion to Ramirez. would attempt to bite at the attacker. Arno muscular dog to cover the distance helped reduce the illegal drugs coming onto between the two Soldiers and for Arno did well during the scenario Fort Campbell after making several finds of Arno to forcefully leap and attack the because he wasn’t aggressive to- spice and marijuana. sleeve on Ramirez’s arm. Though, ward people; he was aggressive Below: SSGT Jonathan Rose, the kennel mas- for everyone’s safety, Arno wore a toward the equipment, said Rose. ter, gives instruction to PFC Jared Bridges, muzzle throughout the assessment. handling Arno. Arno has served for more than Until Bridges ordered Arno back to “He was more going towards the six years, and brings and brings a search as- his side, the dog showed no mercy. wrap as we call it; the aggression set to the military that cannot be replicated Then the dog, which had spent most sleeve,” said Rose. “Also when it was by man nor machine. of his life training, quickly obeyed. just the two arguing, he wasn’t try- ing to bite at the decoy; he was “Once they do start training at 6 more trying to put himself between months old, they have 120 days to the two and say ‘I’m not liking this certify them as a dual purpose dog,” arguing. ... I’m not going to bite said Rose. “That is the patrol re- you, but hey stop it.’” quirement, which is to bite and hold, and also the detection whether it be After years of hard work and service, narcotics or explosives. Once they the Army is losing a valuable mem- certify from that then they get ber of its team in Arno. However, shipped out to us.” Bridges is hopeful that Arno will get the life he deserves, and he was “They have tons of capabilities,” said glad to participate in Arno’s retire- Bridges. Just having a dog on the ment process. 2015 MWDTSA Calendars Still Available Our 2015 calendar is still available in limited quantities. The calendars make great holiday gifts.