thedrifter
08-13-09, 06:24 AM
NM woman works to get military dogs adopted
By Laura London - Alamogordo (N.M.) Daily News via AP
Posted : Wednesday Aug 12, 2009 5:58:20 EDT
ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — Benny, a retired military working dog, is a happy-go-lucky German shepherd who will do anything his master commands. If it weren’t for Debbie Kandoll, he might not have ever had a chance to display his obedience.
Kandoll wanted to adopt a military working dog ever since November 2000 when President Bill Clinton signed into law a bill allowing the dogs to be adopted rather than euthanized when they are no longer able to serve.
Law states that military working dogs can take an adoption suitability test, and if they are approved, be adopted by law enforcement, their handlers or qualified civilians.
Kandoll’s husband, Mike, was in the Air Force at the time and received orders to deploy, so Debbie asked if she could adopt a military working dog to keep her company. But since he was close to retirement, the Air Force deployed him to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.
“And I said, ‘Does that mean I can’t adopt a military working dog?’ And he said, ‘No, go ahead and call,’ ” Kandoll said.
Kandoll said after realizing the injustices that have happened to military working dogs, she has started a Web site about them.
At her site people can get help navigating through the system to adopt a military working dog.
Kandoll keeps a list of phone numbers on her site that people can call to find military working dogs that have been declared “excess” or “pending disposition.”
In addition to including contact information and tips on how to expedite the process on her Web site, Kandoll has stepped in to personally help in some adoption situations. She has used donations collected through the Web site to transport dogs from overseas locations back to the United States.
Kandoll said it took 50 phone calls to find MWD Benny B163, a beautiful German shepherd. She found him just in time — he had been slated for euthanasia.
Benny served as a narcotics detection and military patrol K-9 during the first 10 years of his life. “He was isolated for 10 years,” Kandoll said.
As a government asset that must be protected, Kandoll said Benny was not allowed to socialize with other animals or people, other than his handlers, during his military career.
Now, he spends his retirement with the Kandolls, playing with their two cats and another German shepherd the Kandolls adopted. Kandoll said he gets along fine with the entire family. He has lived with them since January 2008.
“And kids, little kids oh, he eats them up, and I don’t mean literally,” Kandoll said.
Kandoll said she takes Benny to schools, where they do obedience demonstrations and talk about the contributions military working dogs make. Benny visits nursing homes and assisted living centers, and he is also a weekly regular at William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
Kandoll said many retired military working dogs make great companions, and Benny even serves part-time as a therapy dog.
The problem, she said, is the red tape involved in adopting such a dog. She said it often takes nine months to one year to process dogs out of the military and into an adoptive family.
“There’s a dog in Fort Leavenworth right now that a handler — a former Vietnam dog handler — has been trying to get out,” Kandoll said, “and it’s taken 10 months to process the paperwork.”
Kandoll said the inefficiency of the adoption system is wasting perfectly fine dogs that have served their country. Meanwhile, she said there’s a huge service dog backlog for military members suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
Kandoll said one major problem is there’s no standardized operating procedure for adoptions. She said every military installation handles the process differently.
Kandoll said before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, where working dogs are trained, might have had 300 dogs in training at one time. Today, they have 800 to 1,000 dogs because they are troop savers.
“They can’t train and deploy them fast enough,” Kandoll said.
Kandoll said since 9/11, all of the emphasis went to getting more working dogs into the field rather than what to do with them when they retired or if they washed out of the training program.
“I understand how it happened, [but] it doesn’t need to continue to happen,” Kandoll said. “I say that as kindly and compassionately as I can, but the time for excuses is past.”
Kandoll said the Department of Defense already has an adoption Web site, but it contains no photographs. She said in March 2008, a memo was sent to all kennel masters on how to upload photos to the Web site, but it was “optional vice mandatory.”
“Meaning that you don’t have to do it,” Kandoll said.
On Kandoll’s Web site, she encourages people to contact Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz and ask for changes to the military working dog adoption program, including implementing a standardized procedure for adoptions and making it mandatory for all adopted dogs from overseas to receive transport back to the U.S. by military air.
As it now stands, retired dogs that were serving overseas must be transported at the adoptive owners’ expense as a pet, even though during their time of service they are proclaimed bona fide “military members.”
Kandoll said kennel masters are not required to give retiring dogs adoption suitability tests and adopt them out. They must be tested before they can be adopted because some of the dogs are too aggressive and would not make good pets.
Kandoll said Benny has minor health issues that make him unable to continue his military career, but don’t interfere at all with home life.
Kandoll demonstrated that Benny is obedient and sociable. He walks beside her without a leash, sits or lies down when he’s told and even shakes hands and waves his paw.
“I taught him to wave,” Kandoll said.
Ellie
By Laura London - Alamogordo (N.M.) Daily News via AP
Posted : Wednesday Aug 12, 2009 5:58:20 EDT
ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — Benny, a retired military working dog, is a happy-go-lucky German shepherd who will do anything his master commands. If it weren’t for Debbie Kandoll, he might not have ever had a chance to display his obedience.
Kandoll wanted to adopt a military working dog ever since November 2000 when President Bill Clinton signed into law a bill allowing the dogs to be adopted rather than euthanized when they are no longer able to serve.
Law states that military working dogs can take an adoption suitability test, and if they are approved, be adopted by law enforcement, their handlers or qualified civilians.
Kandoll’s husband, Mike, was in the Air Force at the time and received orders to deploy, so Debbie asked if she could adopt a military working dog to keep her company. But since he was close to retirement, the Air Force deployed him to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C.
“And I said, ‘Does that mean I can’t adopt a military working dog?’ And he said, ‘No, go ahead and call,’ ” Kandoll said.
Kandoll said after realizing the injustices that have happened to military working dogs, she has started a Web site about them.
At her site people can get help navigating through the system to adopt a military working dog.
Kandoll keeps a list of phone numbers on her site that people can call to find military working dogs that have been declared “excess” or “pending disposition.”
In addition to including contact information and tips on how to expedite the process on her Web site, Kandoll has stepped in to personally help in some adoption situations. She has used donations collected through the Web site to transport dogs from overseas locations back to the United States.
Kandoll said it took 50 phone calls to find MWD Benny B163, a beautiful German shepherd. She found him just in time — he had been slated for euthanasia.
Benny served as a narcotics detection and military patrol K-9 during the first 10 years of his life. “He was isolated for 10 years,” Kandoll said.
As a government asset that must be protected, Kandoll said Benny was not allowed to socialize with other animals or people, other than his handlers, during his military career.
Now, he spends his retirement with the Kandolls, playing with their two cats and another German shepherd the Kandolls adopted. Kandoll said he gets along fine with the entire family. He has lived with them since January 2008.
“And kids, little kids oh, he eats them up, and I don’t mean literally,” Kandoll said.
Kandoll said she takes Benny to schools, where they do obedience demonstrations and talk about the contributions military working dogs make. Benny visits nursing homes and assisted living centers, and he is also a weekly regular at William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
Kandoll said many retired military working dogs make great companions, and Benny even serves part-time as a therapy dog.
The problem, she said, is the red tape involved in adopting such a dog. She said it often takes nine months to one year to process dogs out of the military and into an adoptive family.
“There’s a dog in Fort Leavenworth right now that a handler — a former Vietnam dog handler — has been trying to get out,” Kandoll said, “and it’s taken 10 months to process the paperwork.”
Kandoll said the inefficiency of the adoption system is wasting perfectly fine dogs that have served their country. Meanwhile, she said there’s a huge service dog backlog for military members suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.
Kandoll said one major problem is there’s no standardized operating procedure for adoptions. She said every military installation handles the process differently.
Kandoll said before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, where working dogs are trained, might have had 300 dogs in training at one time. Today, they have 800 to 1,000 dogs because they are troop savers.
“They can’t train and deploy them fast enough,” Kandoll said.
Kandoll said since 9/11, all of the emphasis went to getting more working dogs into the field rather than what to do with them when they retired or if they washed out of the training program.
“I understand how it happened, [but] it doesn’t need to continue to happen,” Kandoll said. “I say that as kindly and compassionately as I can, but the time for excuses is past.”
Kandoll said the Department of Defense already has an adoption Web site, but it contains no photographs. She said in March 2008, a memo was sent to all kennel masters on how to upload photos to the Web site, but it was “optional vice mandatory.”
“Meaning that you don’t have to do it,” Kandoll said.
On Kandoll’s Web site, she encourages people to contact Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton A. Schwartz and ask for changes to the military working dog adoption program, including implementing a standardized procedure for adoptions and making it mandatory for all adopted dogs from overseas to receive transport back to the U.S. by military air.
As it now stands, retired dogs that were serving overseas must be transported at the adoptive owners’ expense as a pet, even though during their time of service they are proclaimed bona fide “military members.”
Kandoll said kennel masters are not required to give retiring dogs adoption suitability tests and adopt them out. They must be tested before they can be adopted because some of the dogs are too aggressive and would not make good pets.
Kandoll said Benny has minor health issues that make him unable to continue his military career, but don’t interfere at all with home life.
Kandoll demonstrated that Benny is obedient and sociable. He walks beside her without a leash, sits or lies down when he’s told and even shakes hands and waves his paw.
“I taught him to wave,” Kandoll said.
Ellie