Let Loose the Dogs of War

Deep breath.  Am I ready to turn my world upside down?  A slow smile creeps to my lips and I nod.  I am ready.  I am so ready for this.

My life's motto is: "If you don't like it, fix it."  No matter what situation we are in, we can change it and if you can't change it, embrace it.  Love and live like there's no tomorrow because one day that will be the case.  Is it easy?  Not on your life.  Is it worth it?  Absolutely.

I've never been satisfied with treading water; standing in one place.  I'm not college educated although I wish that for my children.  In a room full of people, I'll never be the smartest although I believe those around me are and with my team, I can achieve anything.  I have a great (although somewhat challenge-less) job working for the Federal Government where I am a project manager for IT projects (certified PMP, baby!).  I could go to work, sit behind my computer, come home at the end of 8 hours, collect retirement and cheap insurance and have money for family vacations and hobbies.  Why would I contemplate adding a job that requires round the clock care of dogs, self-employed insurance rates which are crazy high because of the predictably that my staff and I will require stitches from a stray canine tooth at some point, hoping that the business will make enough money to pay staff and put food on the table and kibble in the bowls and having to do *gulp* corporate tax forms?

My response? Because this is what I want to be when I grow up.

I want to make sure our men and women in Law Enforcement come home every night to their families.  Being a wife of an officer, I know from personal experience the heart wrenching feeling of watching your spouse walk out the door praying they will walk back through.  I believe with all my heart that deploying more Police Service Dogs in our community will make that happen because of the protection they offer to their handlers and their fellow officers.  The deterrent factor alone is enough to stop a lot of criminals and situations from escalating beyond control.  I don't have to remind anyone that the economy is rough.  In my humble (although awesome) opinion, there has never been enough money for law enforcement agencies to do what they need to do and the economic downturn only puts a further strain on agencies.  Couple that with increased crime directly related TO the economy and we have a perfect storm for our communities to buckle.  Placing dogs in agencies at a huge cost reduction with most of their training already completed gets more dogs on the streets faster than traditional methods.

It's time we step up as American citizens and make changes to protect our freedoms.  I'm not strong enough or brave enough to serve like our military, police, fire and emergency responders so I'll do the next best thing: support them by working hard and donating my blood and sweat.

Cry Havoc and let loose the dogs of war!  Let's do this thing!