Talking War Dogs – Q3 2026
This year is moving at a pace, which means the time has come to recap yet another busy quarter for US War Dogs, with our president, Chris Willingham.
What’s going on, K- fam?! It’s been another incredible quarter of support, care and repping for the MWD community. Our whole team works tirelessly to drive forward our mission and the summer has brought us many opportunities to do just that. So let’s get into it!
K-9 Care
We keep our mission of supporting K-9s and their handlers at the forefront of all we do and this quarter, we have been honored to add 34 new retired MWDs to our Rx program, which means they can access the medications they need – now and in the future. We spent over $33,734 on medications for RMWDs across July, August and September.
We are honored to welcome Chiko to our Rx program
We also supported 34 dogs through our Emergency Care program, to the tune of $89,868 over the last three months. We absolutely love to see more families utilize our support programs and since we soft launched the Emergency Care program back in 2022, we have spent over $600,000 in surgeries and treatments for RMWDs.
As well as signing up new MWDs to the Rx program, we have also issued 15 MWD Service Awards, in grateful thanks for their careers of dedication to our country. Each Service Award we send is accompanied by a signed certificate and a quality dog bed and a box of goodies to welcome the K-9 into life on ‘camp couch’.
Our Rainbow Bridge Assistance program has supported six families as their RMWDs face end-of-life care. The program covers the cost of cremation and we offer the option of sending a personalized shadow box featuring the MWD’s name, tattoo number and picture, as a lasting memorial. This is our way of raising a slow hand of gratitude for the MWD’s life of service and we are always honored to support families in this way.
Supporting Partners to Extend Our Impact
The K-9 community is so lucky to have a number of incredible organizations working tirelessly to support MWDs; their handlers and families, in several tangible ways. One way that we extend our mission and impact within this community is to provide funds to our partners in order for them to continue their vital work. Our partners at The DDamien Project in Texas; The Dawgs Project and Paws of Honor are just three organizations that we have provided financial support to, helping maintain their missions and helping more MWDs, handlers and families.
Here’s what our support to these partners looks like in practical terms:
- $15,000 donated to The DDamien Project to cover six months of care to the 16 MWDs currently in residence on the ranch
- Financial support provided to The Dawgs Project, to fund feeds for kennels across the country, including Hawaii, Luke AFB in Arizona and Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas
- Financial support for 23 RMWDs to receive care through Paws of Honor’s Veterinary Care Program
Honoring the MWD Community
Many will know that a huge part of our heritage comes from paying lasting tribute to the military K-9 community by supporting monuments and memorials that help to raise profile of the service and sacrifice of MWDs and this quarter, US War Dogs has been actively involved with three monuments that do just that.
On 1 August, US War Dogs volunteer Ray Myers and I attended the unveiling of the Fallen K-9 Warriors Memorial Wall at Michigan War Dog Memorial. Entitled “Always Faithful”, the memorial depicts the names of all the MWDs who were killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As well as moving speeches from Michigan War Dog Memorial CEO Clint Symons, US Army Sergeant Major Viridiana Lavalle and Luciano Aquilar from The Dawgs Project, the ceremony also featured a 21-second howl salute from the K-9 Salute Team.
We are proud to have given our support to help bring the project to life and we had an incredible time seeing the monument unveiled.
Michigan War Dog Memorial’s new tribute to MWDs KIA during GWOT
On 10 August, we also had the honor of attending the monument dedication ceremony of a brand new tribute to MWDs at the Rolla Veterans Memorial Park in Rolla, MO.
The project was the brainchild of high school sophomore and Eagle Scout, Mason.
Mason did everything from designing the monument and digging the footings for the concrete pad – with help from his Eagle Scout troop – to fundraising for the project.
With such hard work and dedication to a noble cause, we were honored to play our part in helping Mason succeed and reach his fundraising target.
Rolla Veterans Memorial Park’s new MWD memorial by local sophomore and Eagle Scout, Mason
With such hard work and dedication to a noble cause, we were honored to play our part in helping Mason succeed and reach his fundraising target.
Finally, we were invited to join the team from the National Service Animals Monument (NSAM) for the fourth Annual Purple Poppy Awards in Washington D.C (17 September). The event highlighted the incredible role played by service animals of all shapes and sizes – including Splash the otter, who works alongside Peace River Search & Rescue to solve cold cases. Incredible!
As well as laying on a beautifully moving ceremony, US War Dogs was also recognized as Organization of the Year for our vital work, supporting the MWD community. We were absolutely thrilled for our work to be shouted out in this way and I’d like to extend my personal thanks to the whole team at the Purple Poppy Awards for such a memorable event.
US War Dogs picked up Organization of the Year at the fourth annual Purple Poppy Awards
The bond between MWD and their handler is something we understand all too well within the K-9 community, but the world is about to learn just how incredible that relationship is – with a little help from Brad Pitt… The new movie Heart of the Beast opens in theaters on 25 September and prior to its general release, our good friends at Paws of Honor invited us to a special screening of the film. I have shared my review of the movie on our socials but my main advice is to prepare yourselves emotionally…
Thank you so much again to Paws of Honor for the opportunity to see the movie and catch up with members of their awesome team.
The incredible team at Paws of Honor hosted us at a preview screening of the new movie, Heart of the Beast
Puppies, Puppies, Puppies!!
We love to see updates from our next generation of MWDs coming through the ranks at Lackland AFB and with the latest ‘DD’ litter born this summer, we have been sharing updates on how our future freedom fighters are doing. If you love all things K-9 and you’re not already following us on socials, make sure you are connected with us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn!
Thank You!
We couldn’t continue to deliver the support and care to the K-9 community without the generosity of our incredible supporters. Earlier this year, we put out a call for fundraising champions to help us raise vital funds to continue our mission. From small businesses to individuals who have been moved by our mission, we were so touched by the support we received.
It takes over $600,000 each year to deliver our vital services and this money is generated purely through public support. We don’t receive any Federal financial support. So, to Tammy Metzger from Mortgage Dogs, the team at Whiting-Turner, Josh Flicek and RMWD Boy and all our incredible donors, we would like to say a heartfelt thank you for your support and care for our cause.
If you are interested in becoming a fundraising champion for US War Dogs, drop us a line at k9family@uswardogs.org
I am excited for another busy quarter of K-9 care and will look forward to seeing y’all for the final update of 2026! Have a wonderful fall and K-9 leads the way!
