In collaboration with partner nonprofit, Project K-9 Hero, we have launched an exciting new project entitled "Project Hero Dog".
Project K-9 Hero founder, Jason Johnson and I were in the American Humane Hero Dog Awards together in 2018 with our fellow canines, Willow and Flash, who both won in their categories. It has always been a goal of mine to partner with a fellow Hero Dog and collaborate on a project that can really help highlight the missions of our foundations.
Jason began a program at Southern Utah University offering K-9 training in explosive detection. Canines are paired with US Veterans giving both the opportunity to develop skills together to make a difference. It's an intense, 15 week, 337 hour training program that, upon completion, the canine and handler will then move into the workforce together.
Marbles, who was living in Gimpo, S. Korea, made his journey to Texas to begin training with a handler to potentially test into Jason's program in Utah. Marbles' life was saved by Nami Kim and Save Korean Dogs on April 13, 2019 from a dog farm in Namyangju. He spent 14 months waiting for his chance to become the canine he was meant to be. I met and interacted with him during this time period and was convinced he was the right candidate for this program.
This is a wonderful opportunity to showcase the resilience and forgiveness of a canine and their ability to truly become man's best friend and not their next meal. It is our intention to grow this program to a much larger scale using only dogs rescued from the dog meat trade in order to raise awareness on the issue and document what American Humane said best, "Dogs have served as extensions of human senses and abilities throughout history and, despite advancements in technology, they remain the most effective way to perform myriad tasks as working dogs."
