{"id":5792,"date":"2019-03-20T11:57:43","date_gmt":"2019-03-20T16:57:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.diamondpet.wearewoodruff.xyz\/?p=5792"},"modified":"2024-01-26T18:21:02","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T00:21:02","slug":"k9s-on-the-front-line-journeys-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/blog\/performance\/training-performance\/k9s-on-the-front-line-journeys-end\/","title":{"rendered":"K9s on the Front Line: Journey&#8217;s End"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been a first-class experience, and graduation day is here.<\/p>\n<p>When the first official classes of K9s on the Front Line Missouri began matriculating in August of 2018, everyone \u2014 dogs, veterans and trainers \u2014 was anxious. It was a first experience for them all, and no one knew quite what to expect.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zZgijHAN2eI\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first few weeks were a little rocky,\u201d says Jason Howe, founder and lead trainer of K9s on the Front Line Missouri. \u201cFor the dogs and the veterans, simply trying to adjust to the amount of information was overwhelming.\u201d But by about the fourth week, Jason could see the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/blog\/uncategorized\/k9s-on-the-front-line-someone-to-watch-their-backs\/\">bonds being formed between the dogs and their veterans<\/a>. \u201cThey were getting confident, and things were beginning to make sense,\u201d he says. \u201cIt finally started to fall into place for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the sixth week of training, the dogs earned their vests, and that honor bolstered the pairs\u2019 confidence even more. The group of 13 veteran\/dog pairs began training out in public; trips to town and retail stores like Lowe\u2019s to work on socializing and public access training became the norm. The real test, however, took place in week 13. Veterans and dogs met at Colton\u2019s Steak House &amp; Grill in Jefferson City, Missouri, for an early lunch. With a busy lunch crowd, savory meat smells in the air and lively conversation buzzing, the dogs sat under the table nearly invisible \u2014 but there if needed \u2014 as the veterans enjoyed a nice meal.<\/p>\n<p>All the hard work finally paid off in mid-December. The veterans invited friends, family and even Jefferson City Mayor Carrie Tergin to St. Martins, Missouri, for some pomp and circumstance as the duos became the first graduating classes of K9s on the Front Line Missouri. Aisles were walked, diplomas were received, and Jason presented each pair with a set of special dog tags that included the veteran\u2019s name and branch of service as well as the name of their K9 companion. The dog tag idea was so well-received that the parent K9s on the Front Line organization in Maine is planning to adopt the practice.<\/p>\n<p>Hot dishes and desserts were shared, and Mayor Tergin spoke on behalf of a proud community. \u201cThis was a huge success overall,\u201d Jason says. \u201cThe community continues to embrace us with love and support, and we\u2019re proud to continue our mission to help even more combat veterans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The graduation ceremony was a great end of a long journey. And everyone enjoyed the ride.<\/p>\n<p>To follow the continuing mission of K9s on the Front Line Missouri,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MOK9SOTFL\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been a first-class experience, and graduation day is here. When the first official classes of K9s on the Front Line Missouri began matriculating in August of 2018, everyone \u2014 dogs, veterans and trainers \u2014 was anxious. It was a first experience for them all, and no one knew quite what to expect. \u201cThe first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"K9s on the Front Line: Celebrating Graduation &amp; Bonds Formed","_seopress_titles_desc":"Follow the inspiring journey of K9s on the Front Line Missouri, where veterans &amp; their K9 companions graduate after forming a bond &amp; overcoming challenges!","_seopress_robots_index":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[158,322,686,268],"tags":[54,306,121],"class_list":["post-5792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-performance","category-training-performance","category-working-dogs","tag-dogs","tag-k9s","tag-k9s-on-the-front-line"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}