Thursday, November 11, 2010

Outfits for Working Military Dogs

Happy Veterans Day -
Starline Nunley started with the idea of helping her son, Major Parker Frawley, who is a Longbow, Apache helicopter fighter pilot stationed in Iraq. She asked him if he would like a Cooling Vest to help him cope with the typically very hot temperatures encountered there.

His reply was “Mom, I am and we (soldiers) are all right. The military provides for us very well, but dogs have different needs. It is so hot that they are having trouble doing their job and that puts us all in danger.”

To see videos of adorable military dogs "read more"

Temperatures sometimes reach as high as 140 degrees. The dogs cannot work for more than an hour to an hour-and-a-half before being completely exhausted. Our troops are provided with proper equipment but the dogs are our first line of defense in many situations. They’ve been forgotten and have no protection against the heat, blowing sands and rough terrain.

Next, Starline asking the president of her local dog club, the Gem City Dog Obedience Club if they would be willing to purchase one or two vests for MWDs (Military Working Dogs). They were glad to do so and also helped with the initial fundraisers for the first six months.
Since then, the project has taken on a life of its own, expanding beyond Iraq to ALL active war zones. With the Starline leading the way and the help of many volunteers the “Cooling Vest Project” as of July of 2010 has outfitted a total of 209 MWD teams.

Read Entire Article About the Cooling Vest Project
http://www.supportmilitaryworkingdogs.org/about.html

After Reading this article I went searching for video on Military Dogs. I found these touching videos which although they do not feature "working" dogs, they do show how dogs can help our soldiers.




1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's a facebook page for Military Working Dogs;

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Military-Working-Dogs/102866751780?v=wall
Veterns Day had hundreds of images uploaded by MWD handlers. Click on video to see some sad and happy tales.

Also, while in facebook, in the search box, type in Save A Vet- there is a link to their website. They are arranging adoptions and sponsors for retired MWD's to live their final years (or months) as dogs.

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