MWD Foster Program

Flight becomes first foster unit to military working puppy
by Patrick Desmond
37th Training Wing Public Affairs

LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) – After three weeks, the newest member of the 37th Force Support Squadron Airman and Family Readiness Flight knows her way around the three-story building and often bounds through open doors on surprise visits.

Aamee, a four-month old Belgian Malinois, is the first puppy to be fostered by a unit at Lackland through the military working dog foster program. The foster program socializes potential working dogs to different people and environments to prepare them for a life of various handlers and locations. Aamee has been with the flight on a pilot test since May 1.

Sharon Witter, Airman and Family Readiness Flight chief, said it provides a different work atmosphere. “It is a stress reliever, I think, for everybody,” she said. “We definitely have to communicate more. You can’t just leave her alone.”

When broaching the program’s pilot test of unit care, Ms. Witter, a dog lover with two of her own, admitted she likes to do things a little differently and jumped at the chance to support the program. “When I started thinking about doing this for the office, I saw it as a win-win for everyone involved,” she said. “The puppy gets the attention and socialization, and the Department of Defense puppy foster program wins. Eventually they will go do their job as a military working dog. They are just military working puppies right now.”

The deciding factor was the ability to split responsibility between Ms. Witter, Master Sgts. Jason Hohenstreiter and Don Friemel, both assigned to the Readiness Flight, with the program’s option for joint custody.

“(Adopting a puppy) can be a really big undertaking,” Sergeant Hohenstreiter said. “Being able to take a break works out better for everybody, especially for the dog. Then the dog is getting all the attention it needs and is not becoming a burden.”

Aamee knows her way around the building, but she is getting to know the base as well. She’s gone to commander’s call, Veterans in the Classroom training and the Skylark Bowling Center.

“People love the visits,” Ms. Witter said. “The puppy draws a crowd. We don’t have to say ‘Hey, here, look! It’s the puppy!’ The more visibility we provide her, the more people see her and the more people understand the program and ask about it.”

The foster program requires constant puppy supervision and specific guidelines for care.

“You are trying to prepare the dog for training,” Sergeant Hohenstreiter said. “You are getting it ready for school, almost like pre-K; you just want to help them develop the skills that are going to help them succeed.”

Ms. Witter said the large kennel whether in the office or at home, is the puppy’s main base so she gets accustomed to living in tight quarters. “She has to eat and sleep in her crate,” she said. “That’s her home whether it’s in my house or in Iraq. They want her to be comfortable in that adjustment.”

Even playtime is more about building motor skills than having fun. Sergeant Hohenstreiter said playing fetch has rules; too, you never pull the tennis ball out of her mouth. Describing tug-o-war, Ms. Witter added, “Puppy always wins.”

Though caring for Aamee is demanding of time and patience, Ms. Witter said she’s looking at the big picture. “One day she might save a life; that’s what these puppies are eventually trained to do in Iraq, Afghanistan or even an airport,” she said. “When I see the grown dogs doing their thing, I’m just amazed and in awe of how they do it. Now, to be a part of how they develop and how they get there, it’s just a good feeling.”

Aamee returns to the military working dog program in August to undergo patrol or drug and explosive detection training.

Group Photo

I've finally gotten around to scanning and editing the photo we've had taken of Trueman, myself, Abby and Ronja at the local photo studio. I am still not 100% happy with it, especially since there are some areas where it is really overexposed (like Trueman's head), but it's much better in terms of color and contrast than the ones we purchased at the store. Plus I've edited out all the dirt on the floor, too.

Dog Years

The Independent Film Channel ran this short film between the movies Quills and The Pianist last night and I thought it warranted sharing.

The movie talks about life from a dog's perspective: what is a normal work week for most of us are long stretches of unexplained absence for our dogs. It's quite well done. And, modern filmmakers take note, the entire film was recorded and edited in-camera, using Super 8 film.

Photographing Dogs

For some time, Trueman and I have been talking about making an appointment with Picture People inside the local mall to have a nice studio photo taken of us and the dogs. For one reason or another, we've always put it off - either because we didn't want to spend that much money, or because it wasn't convenient that given week, or because it was a busy week for the studio (such as those weeks before Christmas or Easter when the studio is filled with toddlers being photographed in their holiday outfits).

Since this week was taken up with out-processing for Trueman, which was largely accomplished in the mornings, we made an appointment on Wednesday to have our photos done on Thursday evening.

Because Picture People is in a busy shopping mall, any sittings for photos that will include pets need to be the first or last appointment of the day, and require you to enter the store through it's back door. The back door opens directly onto the mall parking lot, next to the security office. This is done because pets are not allowed inside the actual mall, and most pets would not be comfortable with or safe to bring into the actual mall anyway.

In addition to that, Picture People also has a sign that says dogs must be muzzled or wearing head halters while they are in the store, except for taking the actual photos, and other pets need to be in carriers or otherwise contained. This is a company policy, although nobody pointed this policy out to us, or asked us to muzzle our dogs when we came for our sitting.

We got there a little early, after having stopped into Care-A-Lot to get thin nylon slip collars for both of the girls so that their collars won't show in the pictures. This worked out great. The collars worked great, and when we arrived, our photographer was outside taking a brief break, so we were greeted right away and he asked us some questions about the dogs and what kind of pictures we were looking for. Our primary goal was to get a photo "with both dogs looking at the camera and both of our eyes open!"

The photographer invited us into the store and said we were welcome to go up to the front portion of the store, where we can see the mall, while we were waiting for another photographer to get done. The other photographer was shooting recent high school graduates in their caps and gowns, and he wanted her to have in our session so that she could wave the dog toy to capture the dogs' attention for good pictures.

We sat up front with the dogs, where we could see people passing by in the mall, and both the pups enjoyed people watching. You can imagine that two large dogs attracted quite a bit of attention from mall visitors, and a few people asked if they could come in to meet the dogs. Some of the kids wanted to know if the dogs knew tricks, and if we could make them do the tricks?

One of the people interested in meeting the dogs was an old German lady, who stopped dead in her tracks upon seeing them, and just stared. I invited her to come inside and pet them, if she wanted to, and she didn't need to be asked twice. She scratched and hugged the pups, and told us about the dogs she had had, and how, after the last dog had to be put to sleep, she'd said that was it, no more, because it was just too hard. She cooed and cuddled the pups right up until it was time for our photo session, and they enjoyed every minute of it.

The actual photo session was very short and a little disappointing.

I expected the photographer to tell us how to pose for a good group picture, to tell us what to do, how to position the dogs, and then snap a bunch of photos to pick from. Anytime you photograph dogs, you really need to be quick and shoot a lot of pictures to get some good ones, as anyone with dogs can tell you - trust me, out of the pictures I shoot with my Nikon, only a small portion make it into my Fotki albums! I also expected the second person, who was acting as the helper, to know how to use the toy we brought to get the dogs' attention, since this location does a lot of pet pictures.

I have to say that they fell short on both counts. The actual posing was left mostly up to us - "How do you want to pose?" the photographer asked. He didn't make sure we were close together or ask us to look toward the camera. There are some photos where we're about a person apart, with the dogs looking in opposite directions, and me looking at the person with the toy, asking her to move it, so the dogs would look at it, rather than just standing there holding it.

Eventually, the photographer took the toy and waved it, while the girl took photos, and I ended up posing us in ways that I thought would look good. I can only say that I wasn't overly thrilled with the whole process, and that I wasn't particularly impressed with the photographers' knowledge and experience. But at least the sitting was over rather quickly and everyone was very nice.

After the sitting, we went back to the front of the store while the photographers went to process the pictures so that they could make up some samples to bring out and present us with the proofs on the computer. This took a while, but we had a nice time sitting at the front of the store with the dogs, interacting with people who wanted to come and pet them. A former Air Force K-9 handler came to hug Ronja, telling us about his Malinois'. And a family with a little boy came in for some doggy kisses.

The little old German lady came back, too, so she could hug and pet the pups some more. She stayed while we looked over the pictures from our session, trying to figure out which one(s) we liked and wanted to get prints of. In the end, I chose just one of the group photos, and ordered it as a large, framed and matted print, a set of 5x7's, and a sheet of wallet-sized pictures. The German lady praised our choice and asked whether she could have one. I thought she was kidding, so I said, "Sure, if you pay for it." She wasn't kidding. She asked how much they are. I told her I would give her one of the wallet-sized photos.

I was a little bit disappointed with the final prints when we got them, because they did not do any editing to the images, and there are scuff marks on some of the flooring and the colors could have used some adjusting, with any black coloring (such as Ronja's face and my T-shirt) being more grey than black and a bit washed-out looking.

The large, framed-print looks quite nice, though, thanks to the mat and frame, and the vignette (dark shadowing in the corners) I asked them to add. It's standing on the small book case in the living room at the moment, but it will get a nice spot in the new house after we move. And the German lady did get her wallet-size photo, and asked both of us to sign it for her and make it out to her - "Make it out 'to Monika'!" - and she was quite happy with that.

The prints we purchased are of the photo shown below, which I pulled from the Picture People website where they set up an account for us to view the proofs and order additional prints. It has a copyright on it and I adjusted the brightness and contrast, but you get the idea. I am thinking about just scanning one of the 5x7's, fixing it in Photoshop (adjusting the colors, removing the dirt on the floor, etc.), and making some nice(r) prints off it.

Stupid is as ...

Sometimes, I truly wonder about the ages and intelligence levels of the people out there, cruising the Internet. I especially wonder about these things when I read the pets section of my local Craig's List and when I read the Google searches that have turned up my blog. Unfortunately - or should that be, luckily - SiteMeter shows me only the last 100 visitors and how they've found my blog, but there are some "winners" in there at times ... Below are a few from today.



Is it healthy to feed fried ground beef to a 8 week old puppy

The answer to this should be a resounding no, regardless of the dog's age. Dogs shouldn't eat anything that is fried, especially not as part of their regular diet, because that's no more healthy for them than eating McDonald's everyday would be for us. The occasional French frie makes a great treat - my dogs adore them - but it should not be a steady part of the dog's diet. Particularly not a puppy's!



How often should I give my 5 week old puppy milk

Most of the time I've seen this question, and it does come up frequently, is when someone bought a 5 week old puppy from a backyard breeder or someone with an "oops" litter who is under the impression that pups can be separated from their mothers and be given away as soon as they begin growing teeth and start eating some of mom's kibble. State laws be damned. (Most states require pups to be 8 weeks old before they are sold or given away.) Then the proud new owner has a pup and no clue what to feed it.

Pups should not be given milk - not cow's milk and not soy milk. If they're giving anything at all, it needs to be milk replacement, which can be bought at the pet supply store or at your vet's office. At five weeks old, pups that are not yet eating solid foods, such as kibble wetted with water, should get "puppy mush", which is a blended mix of milk replacement, kibble, and warm water.



Can you let a dog ride in a car trunk?

If the trunk you are talking about is really a trunk, meaning that it is separate from the main compartment of the vehicle and, once closed, completely enclosed and dark, then that would be a loud, resounding, "Hell NO, what the fuck is wrong with you people?!" A dog can not ride in the trunk of a car.

Now, if by "trunk" you mean the cargo area of a Sport Utility Vehicle or station wagon (the room behind the rear seats), or the bed of a pickup truck that is enclosed by a cap with windows on the sides, then yes, a dog can ride there.

In any case, dogs should be properly secured in the vehicle, either by means of seatbelt harnesses, tie-down harnesses, or crates. Small dogs and large dogs ride safest when they are securely crated. If your dog needs to be in the bed of a pickup truck, the dog must be crated and the crate must be secured in such a way that it does not move around while you are driving - bungee cords from the crate to the tie-down points around the sides of the truck bed are a great option. Dogs should never ever ever be loose in the open bed of a pickup truck!



Is it possible when taking a dog's rectal temperature to accidentally put the thermometer in the vagina?

Not unless you are a complete idiot.

The rectum is the part located right underneath the dog's tail. The vagina is located further down, between the dog's hind legs. You'd be hard pressed to "accidentally" put the thermometer into the vagina unless you don't have the first clue about canine anatomy and don't know where to actually find the rectum.