10th Birthday Commentathon for K9s for Warriors

Thank you all for your birthday wishes yesterday!  I loved all your comments and I even received some special birthday cards which I will share during Wordless Wednesday.

I was happy to see that some of you were able to answer the Cairn Terrier Trivia yesterday.  For those of you who didn't know the answers, they are:

1) 10.5 years is the official age a Cairn Terrier is considered a senior dog (but I'm going with 10 years since my mustache and beard are all white now);

2) On the later episodes of I Love Lucy, Little Ricky had a dog named Fred and he was a Cairn Terrier; and

3) A Cairn Terrier can be any color but WHITE - as Whitley said, a white Cairn is a Westie!

I opened my gift from Ma and Daddy-dog yesterday and I was so happy to get some really stinky treats from The Honest Kitchen.  They are called Beams and they are dehydrated catfish skins...and oh dawg, are they yummy!

I wanted to do something nice for other doggies for this big birthday like donate to an animal organization.  Ma has always wanted to do something nice like donate to an organization that supports our returning military heroes.  We made what I think is an excellent decision to donate to an organization that works with both dogs and veterans.

You see, Granddog was a Marine and served two combat tours in Vietnam.  He was injured on his first tour, right before his 20th birthday, and suffered permanent nerve damage in his arms and hands. 

When he came home and returned to civilian life, he also suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and had some dog-awful night terrors.  He sought help from the VA and learned to cope with his PTSD - he was a strong Bulldog after all - though he suffered from night terrors for the rest of his life.  He died some years ago a week before his 59th birthday.  His birthday is two days before mine on September 5.

That is why today's birthday post is a Commentathon for K9sfor Warriors.  Our donation will be In Memory of Granddog.

Founded in 2011, K9s for Warriors is a not-for-profit organization committed to providing service dogs to wounded warriors suffering from PTSD or Traumatic Brain Injury as a result of military service.  K9s for Warriors trains the dogs and matches them with soldiers, who participate in a three-week residential training program to learn how to work with their service dog.

All images are the property of K9s for Warriors.  Used with permission.

What is especially touching is that K9s for Warriors' primary sources of dogs for the program  are rescues and shelters!  When a dog is first brought to K9s for Warriors attention, they learn as much as they can over the phone: vitals, history, sociability with people and other animals, etc.  Then one of their trainers evaluates the dog in person, for a hands-on assessment of the dog’s: personality, sociability, trainability, obedience knowledge, manners, etc.

K9s for Warriors is building a new Camp K9 that will include housing and a clubhouse for the warriors and kennel and training facility for the dogs.  I have been following the progress on their Facebook page since they are only about 4 hours North of where I live.  It is very exciting.

So, to help me make a donation to K9s for Warriors all you have to do is leave a comment on this post.  You have until 11:59 PM tonight to get your comment in and counted!  I hope you all will help me and support this great organization!