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I started in the United States Army
in nineteen ninety three. I was a

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military police officer. And when I
came in the military, I didn't even

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know that working dogs really existed.
I didn't know as a profession. I

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didn't know that was something you could
do. And when I started learning more

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about the working dogs and what they
do for the military, it was something

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I kind of set my sights on
to be a part of. So it

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wasn't until after I got of the
military. I started working with the police

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Department, Civilian Police Department, and
my goal there was to become a canine

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handler and a canine trainer, and
that's what I did. And when I

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became that, I really started learning
more about the impact that you can put

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on lives in the community and things
like that that really just not only hands

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us the safety but the role model
that canines and their handlers play. And

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I call it the most honorable profession
in the world. Talk to me about

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that relationship between a handler and their
service dog. What is that like?

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It's a and like no other.
When you have a canine partner and they're

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with you twenty four seven, a
lot of times you're closer to your canine

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partner, like when I have my
dog Flash, then you are your family.

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They go to work with you,
they come home with you, they

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go to vacation with you, they
go on vacation with you, and they

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do other things that you're just an
inseparable and inseparable and it's just it's just

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a bond that you can't really describe. And that's why when I founded Project

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Canine Hero, it's so important to
me to make sure that these heroes are

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being looked after in their retirement.
And you know, we'll talk a little

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bit about why that is, but
they mean so much to their handlers and

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we want to make sure that they're
living in the fullest and most productive and

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happy life that they can. So, before you started Project Canine Hero,

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what did the life of some of
these service dogs look like once they were

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retired, Once they've done their full
tour of service, whether it be for

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police dogs or military dog, that's
what happens after they retire. Well,

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currently, we've gotten a lot better
as a society where we're not leaving dogs

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behind the war zones as much,
we're not seeing them put down like they

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were in the Vietnam War. So
we've made great strides in that and passing

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laws in legislation. However, most
of the dogs today get to stay with

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their handler, and people think that's
great, but a lot of them are

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having cancer when foma. We have
a dog in the er today with a

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chemotherapy or maybe an amputation from a
bone cancer. So in no way as

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a first responder, a police officer, a soldier, airman, marine capable

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of paying for those expensive surgeries,
medications office visits sometimes five thousand, ten

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thousand, or fifteen thousand dollars or
more. So that's on the handler.

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That's their responsibility once they adopt to
cover all of the health issues that happen

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with these dogs. Yes, so
specifically in the United States military and the

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federal government, there's no program inplace. Some of the local agencies have set

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up funds where you know, it
may they get a stipend so much per

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month, so much per year,
but in no way does that really help

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with it a serious issue. It
might help pay for some food, it

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may help with some prescriptions, but
it's not going to help with a major

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surgery. I mean, I can
speak as an owner of a senior dog.

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Those bills add up and they add
up quickly. And you never want

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to be in a position where you
have to make the decision between healthcare of

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a family member, right, And
this is this is you know, a

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civilian dog, right, We're not
talking about dogs who have been in action

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or have you know, served at
the side of some of our first responders.

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What is that like as a burden
on their handlers who do choose to

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adopt that, It's a huge burden
because two things happen without the help of

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an organization like Project Knine Hero.
Either they go into extreme personal debt.

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They have to put on their credit
cards. When you go into these vet

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places for emergency, you have to
put the credit card down right at that

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moment, and that might be five
thousands, ten thousand dollars. Let's say

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it's blow. We're all kind of
familiar with a blow. I mean those

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surgeries are expensive. Drop that credit
card, or they have a nice hair

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credit something that has interest rate that
jumps up after so much time, Right,

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and so you know, either they
go on the financial debt or the

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dog simply goes without. So when
I found a Project can On here,

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those are the things I want to
avoid. I was a former military police

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officer. I was a former police
officer. I was in the federal service,

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So it's important to me to make
sure they don't go in debt because

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I know they're not getting paid any
extra money out there. And some of

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our soldiers, specifically police officers,
they don't have the ability to get a

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second job. They can't go out
and work part time somewhere. Some of

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their jobs don't even allow for that. So and then most importantly, we

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don't want to see the dog go
without because that's what used to happen.

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The dog would simply go without or
have to be euthanized because someone just couldn't

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pay the bill. So this isn't
like this isn't you doing this for fun.

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You have dedicated your life, your
career to this. Talk to me

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about how you made that transition from
you know, being a service member into

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dedicating your life to Project Canine Hero. Yeah, it was. It was

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a hard choice for me at the
time, but now it's one when I

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look back on, I'm so glad
I did. Because you can really never

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grow as a nonprofit until you fully
dedicate your time to it, you know,

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and a lot of people look at
how nonprofits ran and you know,

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we did really great last year with
eighty eight percent program services only five percent

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or administration, which is great.
And so now I'll maybe we'll do this

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for a living. But you know, at the time when I left,

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when I started in two thousand and
sixteen, I was still a full time

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government employee. And the government doesn't
really want you to talk about your nonprofit

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when you're at work or outside of
work or certain things, right they want

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you to focus on your government job. And I wasn't. I was working

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in the canine program for the United
States, like the dogs you see at

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the air report listen if for passengers
for explosives. I worked in that program,

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and you know, I thought,
we're never going to get to the

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level I want to be if I
don't just do this full time. And

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I took five hundred dollars in my
pocket that year in twenty sixteen and started

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this organization. And this year we
hope to raise over five million dollars.

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How do we help you raise that
money? Well, donations obviously help.

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We have over five hundred dogs pending
application. We're committed to putting in fifty

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two new dogs a year, so
that's one hero week and each week we

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put that new hero in we're committing. I used to make between twenty and

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twenty five thousand dollars in the lifetime
of that dog. They might be in

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for a year, they might be
in for five years. Some dogs are

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still fairly young when they come in, but the financial helps. And for

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the dogs who can't stay with their
handlers, we have one hundred and seventy

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seven acre rehabilitation rehomie facility in Tennessee, and the ones are going to be

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euthanized otherwise, whether they have aggression
issues or they just run out of a

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place to stay because a family situation, it could be anything. We have

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that available for them and everything can
be done on Project Canaan hero dot org

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and we have a donate button.
We have ways that you can people sometimes

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leave us estates. Sometimes people do
four oh when k transfers were set up

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for that. We have a shop
on Project Canaan hero dot org which has

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our apparel. Is the sweet sweatshirt
that you're wearing, this hoodie that you

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got on today. This is the
Military Working Dog ROSSO hoodie. Rosso had

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surgery this week forty two hundred dollars. Who is Rosso? Tell me about

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Rosso. Rosso is one of our
ambassadors. Two over two years ago.

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He was going to be euthanized from
the Air Force. He protected the last

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two presidents, he protected the President
of Japan, served overseas and Operation Inherent

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Resolve and Operations Spartan. Shield did
over ten secret service missions around the world.

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And when his time was up,
he was just too aggressive to be

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adopted. And why he had a
handler that loved him. That handler had

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a six month old child. Yeah, and while he still active duty and

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can still deploy working on the presidential
details and other things, his spouse equipped

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with a newborn to handle aggressive military
working dog. Right. And I can't

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imagine when you're when you choose a
career path as a handler that you know

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that's that's part and parcel. You
know that that's part of the age career.

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Right. And so, uh,
the kennel master there reached out to

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me. I drove all the way
to Washington State, I picked up Rosso,

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drove him back. That was December
of twenty twenty one. He's still

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alive. Um, he had he
had an emergency surgery this week. But

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he's doing well, he's recovering,
and you know, it's just a good

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example of a military working dog who
was trained to be like this, right

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if who was selected to act top
dog. He I mean, you're protecting

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the president at that level, it's
like servant. And he protected Air Force

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bass and security. So yes,
he's supposed to be aggressive, he's supposed

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to be fierce, but he's also
loyal and he's very loyal to his handler.

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It was never a problem with his
handler. Was anyone who came around

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that wasn't his hand? Yeah,
I know I own a little bit about

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that at home, you know.
So Ross So that's his that's his personality,

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but that doesn't mean that he should
be put down after a service.

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So he lives out at one hundred
and seventy seven acre rehabilitationy Homing Center in

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Tennessee. And um, he's doing
one Police thirteen and uh, you know,

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this is a a Rosso sweat shirt. And we have a lot of

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a lot of different Appa Project cana
hair out or that has other dogs on

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it. We have a Duke one
and an Arlow one and we have one

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with Flash who uh you know,
I wanted to get into Flash because Flash

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was told me about Flash Police Canaan
that helped me start this program. Who's

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Flash? Well, Flash was my
police Can nine when I when I worked

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in Yakima, Washington, and we
were there together until I went overseas in

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two thousand and eight and I had
she had to stay. I took a

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job protecting the Ambassador United States.
How do you explain that too? How

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do you explain Some people say they
would never leave their dog behind. But

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I was given an opportunity. And
I will tell you that I wouldn't be

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the founder of this organization if I
hadn't made these career moves in my life.

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So protecting the ambassador in Iraq and
Afghanistan as a dog handler was a

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big deal to me. It was
an opportunity I just really couldn't pass.

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And Flash had to stay, and
she worked with two additional handlers. But

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when she retired in twenty thirteen,
I was an instructor outside the DC area

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for the federal government and I was
giving the call to get her back.

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And I got her back in retirement
and she had lyme disease. She had

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over three thousand deployments rough on her
body. And I noticed then, you

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know, even though she had seized
millions and millions of dollars of assets in

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cash and narcotic related currency and things. None of that can help with her

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retirement. So we have a lot
of dogs in our program like that who

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might work in border patrol or might
work you know, on a local drug

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task force, and they and they
do all these great things, but none

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of those funds go to their retirement. So, you know, she really

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opened my eyes to what it was
like as a hero. In twenty and

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eighteen, she was named the law
Enforcement Dog of the Year in America.

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We were on We're in Beverly Hills. That was through the American Humane whereund

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the Hallmark Channel, and it was
just it was it was amazing, and

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so she got her recognition. And
we have two children's books that I wrote,

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once called Canine Flash Becomes a Hero
and the other's Canine Flash a Hero's

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Hero and the true stories about our
life and how we started Project Canine Hero

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and how we're helping dogs all across
the nation, and both of those can

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be purchased on a website of Project
canan Hero dot org. Do you think

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these dogs know that they're heroes?
Do you think that, I mean,

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you know, you know when you
have a special dog right one that obviously

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you're connected to and you think the
world of them. But do you think

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these dogs who have done so much
service for us and for our public servants,

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that they also know that they're there's
something extra special. I think they

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do. I think the way they're
treated like celebrities and superstars. If you

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look at pictures of Flash, he's
on the red carpet, they're at the

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Beverly Hilton. You know, there's
pictures of our online, any of our

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ambassadors, they all get the special
treatment, and they should. These dogs

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put their lives on the line for
us. They specifically ones in the military

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and the police that we help without
question, without hesitation. They don't ask

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questions. They do what's expected to
them, and they love to do it.

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And for that, you know,
I always say, you know,

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one of our taglines is protecting those
who protected us, and that's what we

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do that project Can and hero we
protect those who protected us. When you

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started dipping your toe into this life's
work that you're doing, I mean,

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you are a CEO of a nonprofit
that has got to keep you up at

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night. I mean do you ever
wake up in the middle of the night

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and go, what am I doing
what am I doing right now? Well,

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to wake up in the middle of
night, you'd have to sleep.

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Well, that's true. No,
it's super important. Hardest part of my

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job. Applications coming every day.
I know, financially we only can put

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in one HERO a week, so
we may get up to fifteen twenty applications,

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and I have to choose which one
we're going to change the lives of.

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Now people think of Project CAN and
HERO helping the docks. True,

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but we're not just helping the docks. When we pay that medical or we

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take them in for life and pay
all their medical bills, that's helping the

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first responder, the soldier, the
airman, the marine, and that's changing

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lives of their family. That's that's
now that their kids can go to college,

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they don't have to pay that ten
thousand dollars there, they can take

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their family on that vacation like any
other working American can do, because if

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not, they were going to spend
that money on their dog. And I

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just feel that, you know,
we're working with Congress. I've been in

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DC here recently good and we're working
with Congress to change that to help nonprofits

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like ours get funding to help these
retired heroes just to make sure they get

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the medical care they deserve. Do
you think as you were doing this,

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there was anything that surprised you about
running your own nonprofit. I mean,

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coming from your background in the service
you've you've given to our country, is

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there anything that, like, you
know, surprised you about running a nonprofit.

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It's probably a lot more work than
anyone that would ever think it would

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be. You know, we're we're
in a good spot because we get a

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lot of great pr and people kind
of understand. Most people who like us

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like police and military, but not
everybody does. And you know, there's

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every day I have to elete comments
or deal with people who are negative towards

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police and military dogs and I don't
really see a reason for that. But

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you know, I understand that not
everybody supports them. Maybe they had a

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bad encounter with them, but I
think the general public really does, really

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really does get behind what we do. And for me, you know,

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trying to get our facility belts where
we need the most help. You know,

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donating financially our line is great,
but I'm looking for corporations who want

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to partner with us to get that
rehab rehoming facility built. We have dogs

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in waiting that are going to be
euthanized otherwise because I don't have a room

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for them. We have the space, we have one hundred and seventy seven

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acres, but we have plans to
build a fourteen a new fourteen run kennel,

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indoor play area, adoption cabins,
all of these things. I'm looking

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for corporations who want to put their
name on them, who want to get

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involved, and whatever their company name
is, we can put their name on

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them and help us build those.
So hopefully one was listening who wants to

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get involved and put their name on
a rehab rehoming center and the plans we

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have it will be the most comprehensive
that I know of in the world.

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And we'll take police canines and miltit
working dogs and from all over the nation.

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And we have one there from Vancouver, British Columbia right now, so

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we're international and names K nine Blitz. He's at our facility, so we're

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working internationally now. And so I
just I just hope because when when people

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donate to our cause, and we
did lower four million last year, I

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hope to do over five million this
year, and with that eighty eight percent

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of program services and stuff. They
want to see it go right to that

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bill, and they want to see
it go right into the dog food or

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the prescription or the medicine right,
which is great. But when you're building

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a building and you got to bring
a water line in off the road and

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you gotta worry about the septic of
the kennels, Okay, nobody, nobody,

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nobody really takes that account that I'll
cost money to as part of the

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program. So I think some of
the biggest hold up for me has just

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been getting that help get those buildings
built, and that's where we really could

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use it the most. So Jason, why don't you tell us again if

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you are a business that's hearing this
and you'd like to be a part of

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the cause, or if you're an
individual Jonor who wants to help out,

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or if you just want more information
about the program, where can they find

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that information? Yeah, it's Project
Knine hero dot org. It's a project

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letter K number nine hero dot org. And we have a contact us on

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there. I answer every email personally, hundreds of emails a day. But

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you know, I'll make sure I
see it and yeah, we're really thankful

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for the support that we do get, you know, organizations like iHeartRadio.

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Who wants to get out there and
promote what we do and promote, you

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know, our mission to the world. It's super important. And I'm again,

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I'm hoping that someone who's listening wants
to help support by putting their name

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on a building and helping us get
these because it's sad to me to know

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that I have the space, but
I don't space as in the acreage,

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but I don't have the facilities right
now to save lives of heroes that served

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our country. And you know,
I say all the time that they at

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their career of protecting us, and
I must spend the rest of mine protecting them