1st national monument for war dogs honors four-legged pup soldiers of World War II and beyond

The Military Working Dog Teams National Monument (Dogs For Defense Save Lives)

Fox News:

LOS ANGELES – The act of Congress is in the books, the bills are paid, the sculptures are being cast, and one of the biggest parades in the world will start a glory tour and countdown to dedication.

The first national monument to pay tribute to military dogs will be unveiled in California in just two months. The U.S. Working Dog Teams National Monument will honor every dog that has served in combat since World War II.

Some cities, cemeteries and military bases across the country already have such memorials. But none has been elevated to national monument level, where it will be in the company of the Statue of Liberty, Yosemite National Park and Mount Rushmore National Memorial.

In 2000, John Burnam, a 65-year-old veteran military dog handler, wrote a book called "Dog Tags of Courage." A year later, he got an email from a reader wondering why there were no national monuments to the dogs of war.

In "Dog Tags" and a 2008 book, "A Soldier’s Best Friend," Burnam wrote about his time with the Army’s 44th Scout Dog Platoon when he was in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968.

His first dog, Timber, was injured in an ambush a few months after they teamed up, so he spent most of his tour with a German shepherd named Clipper.

"He saved my life and saved the lives of others by alerting on ambushes, snipers and booby traps. I wanted to give something back to these animals that have done so much and asked for so little, except for food and water and the love of their handlers," said Burnam, who received the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and Purple Heart.

Back then, handlers were not able to adopt their dogs when they were retired.

"I always worried about them but I know they died over there and they died as heroes," he said.

In 2004, Burnam and two other dog handler veterans pursued the idea in earnest, forming the John Burnam Monument Foundation Inc. But it took two more years, until he met Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., that the monument project started to take shape.

In 2007, Jones introduced legislation authorizing establishment of the monument. Passed unanimously by Congress, it was signed the next year by President George W. Bush, then amended and signed by President Barack Obama.

Burnam designed the monument, which depicts the modern military handler and four dogs — a Doberman, German shepherd, Labrador retriever and Belgian Malinois, all breeds used in wars.

The silicon bronze handler stands more than 9 feet tall and weighs 1,500 pounds. Each dog is about 5 feet tall and weighs 550 pounds. Burnam called them "hero-sized."

The figures will stand on a pedestal, in front of a large granite wall. One side of the wall will have photos etched in black marble veneer showing dog teams in combat from the different wars. The other side will have an inscription written by Burnam.

The sculptor, Paula Slater, said it was the largest and most complex monument she had ever done. She worked for thousands of hours, saying that finishing a project of that size "is like giving birth to a baby — five of them."

The money for the monument came slowly. Burnam made one of many fundraising pitches on the reality TV show "Who Let the Dogs Out," featuring Tillman, the skateboarding, surfing and snowboarding bulldog. The president of Natural Balance Pet Foods Inc., the company that Tillman represents, attended the show taping and volunteered to pitch in more than $1 million.

"Don’t do a thing. Natural Balance and Petco (Animal Supplies Inc.) will take care of it," Joey Herrick said. To raise funds for the monument and its maintenance, Natural Balance created a jerky bark treat sold by Petco. Maddie’s Fund, a family-funded pet rescue foundation, also signed on as a corporate sponsor.

The public will get a sneak peak of the monument at the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena on Jan. 1, when a floral replica will be used as Natural Balance’s float. Burnam, dogs and handlers from every military service branch will ride on it.

When the float goes on display afterward at Victory Park, the real bronze monument will make its public debut next to it, Herrick said. Then the bronze monument will go on tour as it heads to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. The location was chosen as the site for the monument because that’s where most of the nation’s military’s dogs are trained.

Meanwhile, Tillman, the dog that helped get Burnam the monument funding, is also getting personal recognition for his military service. For his work entertaining troops at bases and for going through a mini Marine boot camp, the athletic bulldog has been made an honorary private 1st class.

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Technorati Tags: Veteran Dogs,military K-9’s,military canines,military animals,military dogs,military dog veterans,working animals,working dogs,Veteran’s Day,Burnam Monument Foundation,Dogs For Defense Save Lives

Department of Islamic Justice Bows Down to Muslims Irrational Hatred of Dogs……. SHEER INSANITY !!!!

It’s time to get serious about eliminating Sharia Law, and all Muslim idiocies, like this one, so contact and pressure Congress to get rid of all Muslims consulting government, military, Obama’s administration, universities!!!!  Europe has already political correctnessed themselves onto the road of oblivion.  There is no one blinder than he who will not see and will not learn from others!  Tony~

Dept. of Islamic Justice Bows Down to Muslims Irrational Hatred of D…

barenakedislam – Cross-Posted at TeaParty.org – h/t to Claudia Johnson

Because Muslims consider dogs to be filthy, the cases of pet dogs being poisoned in Europe and Turkey have skyrocketed. And now, this Muslim dog insanity is being submitted to by the Islamopandering Obama Regime, who have ruled that ‘Guide Horses’ must be allowed in shops, restaurants and even on airplanes.

logic from DOJ: Miniature horses are viable alternatives to dogs for individuals with allergies, or for those whose religious beliefs preclude the use of dogs,” the rules state. A recent Justice Department ruling that allows miniature horses to be used instead of dogs as service animals for the blind and handicapped, also mandates that shops, restaurants, hotels and even airlines be forced to allow service horses into their establishments or face lawsuits if they refuse to accommodate horses.

First, let me tell you why the use of horses as service animal is both stupid and cruel to the animals. Horses are NOT domestic animals as dogs and cats are. Horses are not physically compatible with an indoor life in a typical home. Horses, no matter how small, are grazing animals who require several hours a day of outside turnout where they can roam and graze at leisure. Horses cannot be housebroken which means these guide horses are fitted with a diaper – humiliating. To confine a horse to a house with only a limited amount of slow walking as exercise is cruel and unusual punishment.

Horses require a lot more room than dogs.. Dogs are fed and walked a couple of times a day, while horses eat hay and grass and produce waste throughout the day. Even the smallest mini needs an 8-by-10-foot stall and room to run around for exercise. Walking slowly in a harness does not constitute exercise for a horse. A horse is meant to be in an environment where he can move about, small or not, eat throughout the day and be with his buddies.

Horses don’t get fleas, but they do get parasites, ticks and attract flies.

Now that the Department of ‘Islamic’ Justice has ruled that service horses must be allowed in all retail establishments, there will be a run on people getting mini service horses, knowing that they can sue any business or restaurant that refuses to allow them in. I can see CAIR sponsoring a program to give horses to Muslims, just so they can sue even more businesses for ‘Islamophobic’ discrimination.

But just as fast as people may rush to get in on the newest fad, once they find out how difficult it is to properly care for horses, they will abandon them, leaving the animals homeless if it doesn’t work out. It’s not unusual, unfortunately, for them to end up on the slaughterhouse floor because there’s no home for them.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) is trying to have this stupid mandate overturned. As he stated:

“What I object to,” said Chaffetz, “is the Department of Justice forcing businesses and restaurants…. think about airplanes. Look, even the Miniature Horse Association has come out and said, look, you can’t potty train, for instance, a horse to the same degree you can a canine. And so it just seems like the federal government, the Department of Justice, is going overboard in issuing a rule. Sure enough, they issued a rule, March 14th, and within a week, restaurants being sued in California for not allowing horses into their restaurant. It just seems absurd, just over the top.

This reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of what the ADA regulations require. Those regulations specifically define "service animals" to include dogs only. As the regulations specifically say, "[o]ther species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained or untrained, are not service animals for the purposes of this definition." 28 C.F.R. 36.104. A business is required to accommodate service animals — dogs — except where "[t]he animal is out of control and the animal’s handler does not take effective action to control it" or "[t]he animal is not housebroken." 28 C.F.R. 36.302(c). So, even if we’re dealing with a service dog, if it’s not housebroken, a business does not have to let it in.

FOX NEWS Already there is a lawsuit in Los Angeles by Jose Estrada, the plaintiff in the case filed this month in Los Angeles court. His attorney, Morse Mehrban, told FoxNews.com that a dog "doesn’t have the sufficient strength to pull him in his wheelchair."

So Estrada, a paraplegic, uses a 29-inch-high miniature horse named Princess. According to the complaint, the two retail stores being sued "refused to permit said animal" inside along with Estrada last month. The suit says Princess "is housebroken" and would not "compromise" the safety of those two stores. Estrada is suing for "no less than" $4,000 in damages.

The federal rules state that businesses should allow in the horses as long as they’re trained, considering such factors as the size of the horse, whether it’s under control, whether it’s "housebroken," and whether its presence would compromise "legitimate safety requirements."

Amador says the horses cannot be housebroken.

The Guide Horse Foundation, though, says on its website that the horses "learn exactly the same behaviors as a guide dog," and that they "never bite or kick except when attacked." (That is crap! Horses will bite or kick for many reasons. But the biggest problem is horses, by nature, will spook and run away from a myriad of seemingly non-scary objects. I know from many years with horses, that they will spook at a plastic bag blowing in the wind, a piece of white paper on the ground, a loud noise, a dog that runs up to it, rustling leaves, and more. Nearly anything can and will spook a horse at one time or another. And because the horse’s natural instinct is to run away, that is what they will do every time)

The organization could not be reached for comment.

The American Miniature Horse Association does not condone the use of miniature horses for that purpose. Association President Harry Elder applauded those who have received "ADA certification" to train animals but questioned the use of miniature horses. "Although the American Miniature Horse is bred to be intelligent, curious, gentle, sensible, willing to cooperate and easy to train, it remains in all respects physically and instinctively a true horse. The American Miniature Horse can be readily trained to be lead or driven but, in most cases, it would not make a suitable replacement for an animal such as a guide dog," he said in a statement.

Guide Horse NO! Why Miniature Horses should NOT be used as Guide Animals for the Blind. In fact, they are a DANGEROUS alternative to a Guide Dog.

Not that it will do you any good, but you can contact the DOJ here:

Eric Holder

202-353-1555 

http://www.justice.gov/

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