Washoe County Library System

"Under the cover of night, deep in the desert of Afghanistan, a US Army handler led a Special Forces patrol with his military working dog. Without warning an insurgent popped up, his weapon raised. At the handler's command, the dog charged their attacker. There was the flash of steel, the blur of fur, and the sound of a single shot; the handler watched his dog take a bullet. During the weeks it would take the dog to heal, the handler never left its...

Former Navy SEAL Mike Ritland, after retiring from the military, started a company to provide a special service to SEAL teams: training and supplying dogs for SEAL combat missions. Now, listeners will learn more about these spectacular dogs who are much like the soldiers they work beside: fiercely aggressive and athletic, devoted to duty, and tough despite pain, injury, or fear. Ritland explains how the dogs are trained, the missions they undertake,...