Our War Hero is Famous!

Ok, maybe not famous exactly, but the newest furry member of our family is certainly making the news in our neck of the woods.  And we couldn't be more happy or proud of our retired Military Working Dog.  One of our good friends works for public relations, and when she found out we were adopting Lando, she immediately wanted to do an article on Lando's story.  Her article is making waves across Facebook and is also front page on both JAGCnet and Army.mil.

Although we have certainly known all about the amazing MWD program, it never occurred to us that we would be adopting one of these a wonderful war heroes.  It turns out, not only is the program huge in the military with around 2,500 MWDs deployed with troops overseas, but adoption of the retired MWD veterans is also becoming a sought after affair since President Clinton signed a bill in 2000 allowing civilians to adopt retired MWDs.  In fact, awareness of these well-trained heroes seems to be making the news everywhere including this article written just last month for the Washington Times.

It is actually hard for me to believe we have had Lando for barely a week.  He fit into our family so perfectly, I can hardly remember what life was like without him here.  He is a huge sweetheart that wants nothing more than to please and protect you.  He greets everyone with a nudge of his nose and melts my heart on a regular basis with how quickly he attached to us as his family.  What is even more incredible is how amazing he is with children and our cats.  He has a gentle patience about him that immediately puts you at ease.

I think Lando has made himself right at home here.  He already has his favorite places to hang out in our house, and he is in love with his new dog bed.  They take great care of the MWD's but they sleep in kennels most of their lives, so I'm sure his therapeutic dog bed feels like a little piece of heaven for his old bones.  He walks little r to school every day, and he enjoys spending time with Big R in his office.  Something about seeing all those soldiers in green turns this pup into mush.  We are so happy to provide this war hero with a comfortable home for retirement.

We are the luckiest family in the world to have adopted Lando.  A good friend of my said that Rani had a hand in all this, and I think she might just be right.  Well, Rani, if you are listening, you will never be replaced in our hearts, but we thank you for helping bring Lando into our lives to replace the huge void that was created when you had to leave us last summer.  We are falling completely in love with this sweet boy...