Q1 2025: US War Dogs Highlights

Our 25th birthday year has gotten off to a flying start and our president, Chris Willingham, has compiled a look back over the last three months’ activities and what our team has achieved, in service to the K-9 community.

What’s going on, K-9 fam?!

I hope that the first quarter of 2025 has treated you and your families well. We are so excited to finally be in our birthday year, which we knew was going to be one of our biggest and busiest yet, as we have been planning some epic ways to celebrate this incredible organization’s milestone. We weren’t wrong – it’s been a great start and we are pumped for the next chapter in this journey to the big 25.

But along with all the birthday preparations (more on that shortly), our business-as-usual work to support military working dogs – active and retired – continues at a pace.

We were thrilled to sign 31 new retirees up to our Rx program – giving them access to the medications they need – and all funded by US War Dogs. Overall, we provided meds totaling over $35,000.

Jjoseph is the latest RMWD to join our Rx program 

We have also provided support to 24 dogs through our Emergency Care program, at a cost of over $48,000, which continues to offer critical veterinary care to RWMDs, wherever they are in the country. Our latest newsletter features the story of MWD Orca, which gives a small insight into how vital this service is and how it truly helps to take care of both ends of the leash.

We have been proud to issue eight MWD Service Awards this quarter, to RMWDs who are either newly retired, or whose owners have just discovered the initiative and wanted a piece of the action for their K-9 hero.

We are always here to receive care package and specialized gear requests and were honored to send out 12 packages to teams at home and in the Middle East. If you need help with good quality gear or just need a welcome taste of home, drop us a line and we’ll be happy to hook you up: k9family@uswardogs.org

Our mission has always been to support MWDs throughout their lives – right to the very end – and our Rainbow Bridge Assistance program continues to provide care to families when it is time to say goodbye. This deeply emotional time can’t be lessened, but for the families not to have to worry about the costs of end-of-life care and cremation, continues to be an honor that we take very seriously. Five families utilized the program since January, and we wish each and everyone who has had to bid farewell to their RMWD recently, all the love and support we can. Never above you. Never below you. Always beside you.

Remembering Denny: We were honored to support Denny and his family, right through the to end of his life

Repping War Dogs

It’s been great to get out and meet some new friends of US War Dogs over the last few months, who have given us a platform to spread the word about our work and often, who have also encouraged their networks to support us too. One such organization – Paycor – invited me to present a virtual address to their “VALOR” Employee Resource Group (ERG), in commemoration of K-9 Veterans Day.

We were also honored to be invited to the Paws for Heroes event, held by the New York Institute of Technology’s office of military and veteran affairs, earlier this month, where we were offered the chance to address guests on our mission and the support we offer to the K-9 community. We were also able to posthumously present MWD Jade with her US War Dogs Service Medal. She tragically passed away earlier that week but her former handler and adoptive dad, Eric Seelin, attended to accept the accolade on her behalf, which was very poignant, given the timing.



K-9 Veterans Day memorializes the beginning of the K-9 Corps on March 13, 1942



In celebration of K-9 Veterans Day, we ran a fundraiser to provide anyone who wished to, the opportunity to make a donation to our cause. We were blown away by the generosity of this incredible community and I would like to say a heartfelt thank you to anyone who gave us a donation – large or small. I can’t tell you how much it helps us continue to do what we do for the military K-9 community.

This year, we celebrated K-9 Veterans Day with the unveiling of a MWD monument that holds a very special place in my heart. The monument, entitled ‘Send Me’, now sits proudly in Tuscaloosa Veterans Memorial Park in Alabama and features US Marine Corps Specialized Search Dog (SSD) Lucca.

Lucca’s monument now stands in Tuscaloosa Veterans Memorial Park

The piece stands to memorialize MWDs, past, present and future, with plaques to inform and educate the public about the service and sacrifice of dogs in the military – since the inception of the K-9 Corps on March 13, 1942 – along with Lucca’s story.

Along with my fellow US War Dogs volunteer, Juan Rodriguez, I was proud to service as a Marine Corps dog handler with Lucca and was honored to offer her our family home, where she spent six happy years in retirement.



US War Dogs has a long history of honoring the K-9 community in this way and I am so humbled that the board saw fit to support this project. The portrayal of Lucca – nose in the air and harness on, ready to work – was beautifully captured by sculptor Jocelyn Russell. I’d encourage anyone visiting either Tuscaloosa or the National Cowgirl Museum at Fort Worth, TX, to pay Lucca a special visit.

War Dogs 25

Our 25th anniversary year is in full swing and with it, a suite of special programs that enable us to give back to this incredible community. Our Wellness Plan program is now up and running for 25 retired MWDs in our care to provide Optimum Wellness Plans through Banfield Pet Hospital. Our RMWDs have had their first appointments and will be enjoying VIP treatment with Banfield for 12 months. 

We are happy to have Jek join our 25th Anniversary Wellness program with Banfield Pet Hospital

War Dogs volunteer and veteran Marine Corps dog handler, Ray Meyers, has offered up a very special gift to one of our RMWD families… as a skilled craftsman, Ray has offered to build a fence at the home of one retiree, to help keep them safe and secure. Ray will be travelling to Florida in June to build the fence for one special family that was selected from those who applied. We’ll have more on this very soon!

Looking ahead to later on in our birthday year, plans are advancing nicely for our Legacy Week training package, which is offered out to active-duty military dog handlers from all branches of service. We have introduced our incredible team of trainers and veterinarians who will be running the course down in San Antonio, TX, and we’ll be releasing further details about Legacy Week, very shortly. If you’re interested in signing up, click here.

Finally, our big birthday celebration event will be taking place in San Antonio on Friday October 17 and we want as many retired MWDs and their families, supporters and friends to come and share the day with us, as possible! We’ll be releasing more details soon but, in the meantime, mark your calendars and get your plans together!

Thank You

As always, thank you for reading our updates, interacting with us on social media and for your financial support that helps us to continue our vital work of supporting MWDs – active and retired. We are so excited to dive into Q2 and can’t wait to share the ride with you!

K-9 leads the way!