America Supports You: Business Goes to the Dogs

By Samantha L. Quigley
American Forces Press Service

VIENNA, Va., Nov. 21, 2005 - Supporting the military canine corps serving in the global terror war is for the dogs as far as one Virginia business is concerned.

The furry patrons of Happy Tails Dog Spa in this Washington suburb and their owners have pitched in to help support America's military working dogs with needed items. The pooches worked up a good lather to raise funds during a dog wash last summer.

And their good efforts continue this holiday season with the spa's planned monetary donation to the U.S. War Dogs Association, which will send holiday gift baskets to both servicemembers and their best friends.

Happy Tails owner Amy Nichols starting thinking about ideas when she could find little American support for military pooches serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, Joye Novellino, the spa's general manager, said. That didn't seem fair, she said.

"The dogs are like soldiers. They're attached to the Marine units and the Army units," Novellino said. "They're over there sniffing out insurgents, fighting in the war, sniffing out bombs, and they're not always thought about.

Response to an in-store donation box -- hundreds of pounds of dog biscuits, 1,300 tubes of lip balm to keep the dogs' noses moist, toys and other items -- signaled a need to reach out to the local community, she said. That outreach came in the form of the summer dog wash, with a suggested donation of $10 a dog. About 155 dogs were washed in a five-hour period, Novellino said.

"We exceeded our goals tremendously," she noted. "We initially thought it would be nice to raise $2,000. By the end of the day it was $8,500. People were handing in $100s. We had a couple of people bring us $2,000 checks."

The money was used to purchase cooling mats to keep the working dogs comfortable during the hot summer months in Iraq and Afghanistan, Novellino said. They also supplied K-9 units with "Doggles" -- goggles with shatterproof, anti-fogging lenses and a wraparound design that block ultraviolet light, wind and debris.

Word spread after the first shipment was sent to Army Master Sgt. Chris Burgess, operations chief, 2nd Military Police Battalion, at Camp Fallujah, Iraq.

Then Army Maj. Jennifer Damco in Afghanistan saw a news release about that delivery and contacted the spa with a different request.

"She had seven dogs, and they were sharing one chew toy because they had gone through (the rest)," Novellino said. "We boxed her up something that day and sent it out to her immediately."

The support hasn't stopped either, she said, adding that the total donations to date are about $15,000. K-9 Support Inc., the charitable organization formed by Nichols under the spa's auspices shortly after the dog wash, just sent another 100 chill mats and 100 Doggles to the deployed dogs.

K-9 Support is in the process of obtaining nonprofit status. Meanwhile, the organization will regularly send requested items to military dogs in 12 K-9 units it has adopted in Iraq and Afghanistan, Novellino said.

Related Sites:

America Supports You [http://www.americasupportsyou.mil/]

U.S. War Dogs Association [http://www.uswardogs.org/]

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NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Nov2005/20051121_3404.html.

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Visit the Defense Department's Web site "America Supports You" at http://www.americasupportsyou.mil, that spotlights what Americans are doing in support of U.S. military men and women serving at home and abroad.

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Visit the Defense Department's Web site for the latest news
and information about America's response to the war against terrorism: "Defend America" at http://www.DefendAmerica.mil.

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