{"id":70819,"date":"2017-03-13T06:55:37","date_gmt":"2017-03-13T10:55:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=70819"},"modified":"2017-03-13T06:55:49","modified_gmt":"2017-03-13T10:55:49","slug":"still-probably-the-saddest-day-of-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=70819","title":{"rendered":"Still probably the saddest day of my life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Fairly good article about the history of K9 Veterans Day that I found:<\/p>\n

A lot of things changed after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941. Oil, leather and rubber were rationed. Men were drafted. Women rolled up their sleeves and built war supplies.<\/p>\n

And dogs were called to duty. During the first world war, the United States took notice of the European use of canines as sentries, message carriers and several other functions.<\/div>\n

Dogs for Defense was a program initiated by a private citizen by the name of Mrs. Alene Erlanger. Along with the American Kennel Club and a handful of breeders, the group aimed to train the dogs for military use.<\/p>\n

By November of 1942, the first Dogs for Defense were prepared for duty in North Africa. While at first they were gun shy, they proved to be well trained.<\/p>\n

As the war progressed, Dogs for Defense was unable to keep up with the demand and the Remount Branch, Service Installations Divisions took over training of the dogs.<\/p>\n

Over the years the military, police and rescue have developed a variety of training methods for K9 units. Their training is tailored to meet the demands of the job and each animal and handler carries out his or her duties to the fullest.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

When I was a soldier in Afghanistan I didn’t have a wife or kids. \u00a0I carried two pictures in my wallet, 1 was of the barstool I “lived” at at Murphy’s in Old Town Alexandria Virginia, and the other was my mutt, Forrest, who was the light of my life. \u00a0When I can home, Forrest was sick and the doctors were worried that the trauma of seeing me might kill her, so I spent 2 weeks in a hotal before I went home. \u00a0I’ve never cried half as hard as when I saw her. \u00a0She meant everything to me.<\/p>\n

I think that’s common with military guys. \u00a0You don’t have to explain your moods to dogs, they just don’t care. \u00a0Good mood, bad mood, all they care is that you are home, and then never want to be apart. \u00a0Until a few days ago, this was the saddest story I ever heard:<\/p>\n