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Puppy Love

MWDTSA has a lot of heart. We have amazing donors and spectacular volunteers. We have a lot of supporters, too. Including some of the canine persuasion. We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share Miss Lola’s letter to any lonely deployed K9 boys out there. What dog could resist a girl like this?

Miss Lola relaxing in the car

Hello, fellow fur loves! My name is Lola and I am 18 pounds of pure Pug fury. I’m a lean, mean fighting machine. (Ok, maybe not THAT lean!) My mom keeps telling me about these awesome dogs that sniff out bombs and bad guys for a living, so I wanted to get to know some of you. First things first, allow me to give you my stats:

Age: 8
Nicknames: Round Mound of Hound, Fatty McFatty
Siblings: 1 fur brother, 2 little humans
Marital Status: Single and ready to mingle, if you like curvy girls ;-)
Job: Snoring so loudly that I wake up the whole house
Likes: Food, naps, food, ear rubs, food, stealing toys from the little humans, food, chewing up said toys, did I mention food??
Dislikes: Long walks, any human that doesn’t feed me, and on most days, my 2 little human siblings
Aspirations: To grow a snout and be a bad a$$ bomb dog

So there you have it, the real reason I want to get to know you…I want to know what it takes for me to become a MWP, Military Working Pug. Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh your furry tails off. My mom calls me “tank” for a reason! I plow through anything that stands in my way and I’m one tough cookie. Any advice that you fellow fur loves could give me would be great. Whew, I’m pumped just thinking about the possibilities! In the mean time, I will start training to become one of the best and brightest of the US Military…right after my nap.

To keep you wanting more, I have attached a picture of my lovely physique. I’m sure you’re panting heavily after seeing this, hope to hear from you soon!

Should any suitors be interested in writing to Miss Lola, you can reach her via her very cool mom, Nikki. nikki@mwdtsa.org

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It’s A KONG Thing

Thanks to all of our great partners in our KONGs for K9s events, we received matching KONGs today. In fact, so many were matched at one time, that we were asked to have them delivered to a store, because they were going to ship via a pallet. Stepping in to accept the donation on our behalf were local owners of TC Country, Fabio and Sabine Yepes.

KONG toys are a favorite of Military Working Dogs (MWDs) and handlers. The bounce, texture and toughness makes them a perfect toy for a very motivated dog; a great reward for hard work put in by our MWDs.

Once delivered, we received the call from Fabio and Sabine so we rushed up to accept the boxes that arrived and stopped for a moment to take some photos. Inspired by one of our favorite MWD photos, Hatos balancing a KONG on his head, Fabio learned to do the same trick.

Apparently, you can teach an old dog a new trick, as demonstrated by our friend below.

Thanks to all of MWDTSA’s KONGs for K9s partners, the KONG Company matched us one for one.

The shipment should last a few months! At least through our next round of care packages.

We are appreciative of the hundreds of supporters whose purchase of one KONG at a time allowed us this amazing donation from the KONG Company.

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Walking Post

Walking post was my responsibility, along with the handler the Air Force assigned to me. Heading towards nightfall, we loaded in the back of a deuce and a half and then drove out, with several other teams, to be posted along the perimeter of our Air Base.

My responsibility was serious. I had to stand guard all night long on the stretch of boundary to which I and my human counterpart were assigned. We had to keep the base assets and personnel safe. My handler was also my responsibility. You know, he worked hard, but he had many shortcomings. Lord, he could barely hear the quiet threats of the night and he couldn’t smell a snake if it bit him– which wasn’t an idle threat.

We had maybe 200 x 200 yards to guard, depending on the terrain and conditions. There were things out there in the dark, there really were. Most nights I didn’t worry my handler, too much. We’d walk, endlessly it seemed and then, for a few brief moments, if all seemed well, we might sit to take a load off. My buddy talked a lot about a place called home and I loved to listen to his voice. Home sounded great, I could hardly wait to get there.

My handler was nervous much of the time, but heck, you couldn’t blame him. I mean he was all of 19 and sometimes there were people out there trying to kill us. And the night, well, it does take its toll when you are at war and fear is already in the forefront of your mind. Usually things went smoothly, but every so often, just enough to keep us on our toes, we were challenged. I never failed my challenge, I never failed my country, but most importantly, I never failed my partner.

I know my buddy is anguished still about the time we were in Vietnam. But, he needs to know that I’m still watching over him. I am still his “Guardian of the Night”.

During the Vietnam War, dogs like Duke X601 guarded base personnel and assets at bases across southeast Asia; Vietnam and Thailand.

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Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and Traumatic Brain Injury

I think there may be some folks wondering about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy and its use to treat Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). I did some research online and thought I would share some information. Much of this information comes from the Mayo Clinic website which is a website that I believe is reliable.

Normally dry air contains about 21% oxygen. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in a pressurized room. The air pressure in the room is raised up to three times higher than normal air pressure. Under these conditions your lungs can gather up to three times more oxygen. As this oxygen circulates through the body, release of growth factors and stem cells are stimulated. These substances promote healing. Injured tissue requires increased oxygen to survive, heal and fight infection.

Currently TBI is not one of the injuries or illnesses traditionally treated with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. Its effectiveness in this condition is considered unsupported by research/scientific evidence. Therefore most insurances will not cover this treatment and the VA does not provide it. However, some physicians/neurologists think that it is effective in treating TBI. Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment is typically an outpatient treatment and does not require hospitalization

As with all treatments or medications there are potential complications. These include temporary nearsightedness, seizures as a result of too much oxygen in the central nervous system, organ damage caused by air pressure changes and middle and inner ear damage including ear drum rupture due to the increased air pressure.

Since TBI affects so many parts of a persons life and presents so many ongoing challenges, I think it is certainly understandable that a person might want to pursue any treatment that might help. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is a treatment for TBI that may be provided by the neurologists in the Healing Heroes Network. Their website is healingheroes.org. Other physicians may also provide this treatment for TBI.

Jeanne Dedrick

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NAMI Homefront Helps Educate Military Families and Veterans

Sadly, we lost another hero to PTSD. Here is a link provided by our resident mental health expert to assist people as they deal with these issues. This is information that can be used by active duty, veterans or family members.

I sometimes bristle at calling PTSD a mental illness. Maybe that’s just me, but realizing some of the situations that these men and women have found themselves in on repeated deployments, I think many of us would be facing the same demons. Standing up to it, realizing it is a challenge and talking steps to make things better- that takes strength and courage. If you know of someone that has these issues, please share the following information.