By Caitlin Vanoverberghe
The Monroe Evening News
LAMBERTVILLE, Mich. (AP) — From inside the basement of her Lambertville home, with her dog, JIG, curled up at her feet, Tracy Spader tells the story of an American soldier so talented in his craft, his enemies placed a bounty on his head.
A general was flown into the war zone to retire the solider on the spot, packing him up and sending him home to the United States in order to save his life.
This particular soldier was not a man, but a dog. Like JIG, he was a member of a K9 military unit, serving across the globe.
Spader said she has always been involved with “everything dog.” She took particular interest in K9s after she became a military mom, according to The Monroe Evening News.
JIG is a retired Marine who served in Afghanistan from 2008 to 2011. He is the second military dog Spader and her husband have adopted. Their first, Buddy, died of cancer a year ago.
“I was always fascinated by the work these dogs put in,” she said. “I’m honored to give them their couch time.”
Now, Spader is working to help as many K9 dogs and their units as she can by sending everything from medical equipment to blankets to help the dogs and their handlers.
“There are two ends of the leash and at each end there is a hero — one has two legs, one has four,” she said. “It’s hard convincing people that these dogs are actually four-legged soldiers.”
Since October, Spader has been collecting supplies and seeking donations, creating an organization called K9 Defender Fund. Crates and crates of medical supplies and K9 equipment are stacked in a corner of her basement, where she assembles two types of care bags.
The first is a FIDO bag, filled with medical supplies designed specifically for a dog’s needs. In addition to bandages, ointments and trauma pads, Spader includes a cone-shaped oxygen mask designed to fit a dog’s muzzle and a proper-sized endotracheal tube.
“The handlers don’t have access to oxygen,” she said. “The medics (who would assist an injured dog) do, but they don’t have the dog mask.
“So what I do is put the cone, the tracheal tube and lubricating jelly in a bag with a tag that says, ‘This is for the medic.” The second bag contains a cooling vest, goggles, water bottles and special mittens for dogs to wear over their paws.
“The military does not provide this equipment,” Spader said. “If the handler wants, they might bring some of these things with them, or if they have a kennel master that’s really on the ball, they might provide some of this stuff.
“But none of this is military issued.”
Spader routinely gets letters from military contacts or messages from soldiers over Facebook asking that she send the bags to a deployed unit.
So far, she’s been able to send more than 30, each costing about $225 to assemble, in addition to shipping.
Her helping hand extends to both the handler and the K9. She has solicited donations from various companies, including Delta Airlines, which mailed her hundreds of blankets from their warehouse. She once visited a
local superstore and bought their entire supply of sleeping bags.
“I will get messages from soldiers saying, ‘Will you please send me a blanket for my dog?’ or ‘My dog is sleeping on the ground or in my coat, can you send me something for my dog?’ “ she said.
“Then I’ll ask what (the soldier) is sleeping on, and they’ll say, ‘The ground.’ So I’ll send things for the soldiers and the dogs.”
