Hello Ruff Life Friends- I wanted to share with you something that is particularly close to my heart. Dogs that serve in the military…. or what are called Military working dogs (MWD)… and March 13 is a day to Nationally recognize them.
I want to clarify some things. There are many types of working dogs. Dogs that work with law enforcement as well as the military, ones that sniff for bombs, working dogs for the blind , medical alert, therapy dogs and emotional support dogs. There are so many types of dogs that “work”…. but there are a small, elite group of dogs that are military, and an even smaller group we can also classify as veterans.
My brother is a Marine. He has been deployed more times than you can count on your fingers on both hands. He served our country and survived, but not without the lasting impressions of what war is. Many fought for our country. Some came home and some did not. The same goes for our MWD. There are MWD that stay stateside for training of them and their handlers. There is a group of MWD that end up overseas that assist the military for a multitude of reasons. For MWD, the majority of the jobs consists of alerting to danger or scent and potentially sniffing out a particular thing.
Here in Michigan we have a pet cemetery and memorial park dedicated to Military Working Dogs, Police Dogs and other working dogs as well as peoples pets that have passed.
The Michigan War Dog Memorial is a non-profit organized to educate the general public on the heroics and dedication that K-9’s give to serve and protect us
The volunteers from their organization travel all over to events to do presentations and talk with groups about the importance of their work and these dogs.
Their MISSION is to continue restoration of the public space they have to a park setting and maintain that setting for the purpose of allowing interment of retired Military Working Dogs and retired Service Dogs. Because they are non-profit and because of donations they are able to provide interment, with full honors, at no cost to the handler/owner. They also provide research for military records and/or service records.
Military War Dogs have been deployed and work alongside our brothers and sisters in uniform. Their job has changed over the years, but their dedication has remained true.
If you want to go pay tribute to the dogs that have served us, the War Dog Memorial is in South Lyon.
25805 Milford Rd, South Lyon, MI 48178
