Wright-Patt boasts ‘stamp-worthy’ military working dogs Published March 29, 2019 By Amy Rollins Skywrighter Staff WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- The U.S. Postal Service recently revealed five additional subjects to the 2019 Stamp Program, including one honoring the nation’s military working dogs by showcasing four breeds with a new booklet of 20 stamps to be released this year. The 88th Security Forces Squadron at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base may not have any military working dogs featured in the program, but the base has several MWDs and handlers that could be considered “stamp-worthy:” MWD Casey 8-year-old male German shepherd Partner: Staff Sgt. Matthew Watkins, handler for five years, has worked with 11 dogs Time as a team: One month. Watkins just made a permanent change of station from Kunsan Air Base, South Korea MWD Casey’s favorite toy: Kong MWD’s top skill: Detection What makes Casey special: “During detection, the fact that he can work through exhaustion. If you can’t give him a reward at that particular moment, he’ll still work for you. It actually makes him work harder to find the odor.” Why Watkins likes being a handler: “The fact that I get to work with dogs every single day – who else gets to say that?” MWD Misha 2-year-old female Belgian Malinois Partner: Staff Sgt. William Sims Jr., handler for two years Time as a team: One month. Misha just arrived from Lackland AFB, Texas, where she received her initial training. MWD Misha’s favorite toy: Kong MWD’s top skill: Detection What makes Misha special: “She is really good at detection. I have to do little work – I just have to remind her where to look. For the most part, she takes me to where everything is,” Sims said. “The fact that she is young and has her entire career ahead of her is special. We get that opportunity to mold her into the great working dog that she can be, setting that foundation for the rest of her career and all the other handlers who are going to work with her.” Why Sims likes being a handler: “Getting to work with dogs is definitely a plus. We are a layer of installation defense that even people in our career field may not know much about. The work that we get to do in molding these dogs into better assets is my favorite.” MWD Rudo 8-year-old male Belgian Malinois Partner: Staff Sgt. Marshall Freeman, handler for two years Time as a team: Almost one year MWD Rudo’s favorite toy: Kong MWD’s top skill: Detection What makes Rudo special: “Now that he is getting up there in age, I like to call him a house pet who finds contraband,” Freeman said. “He has a switch. He knows when it is time to go to work and when it is time to relax. He goes out every day to work, and it is fun to him. We have built a bond that I didn’t think we could ever build together. What makes him special is the way he brings his energy, his willingness to work for me and the fact that he is willing to put his life on the line so I can go home to my family every night.” Why Freeman likes being a handler: “I love coming to work. You get to train dogs all day. They show you your weaknesses,” he said. “You reflect on what you did wrong and what you did right and what makes you a better team. At the end of the day you go home a better person and a better handler. You think about how to fix the mistakes of the previous day so you can move forward as a better team.” Freeman’s final comment: “Canine leads the way, and it’s the best job in the Air Force.” MWD Sonny 3-year-old male German shepherd Partner: Staff Sgt. Heather Albright, handler for four years Time as a team: Nine months MWD Sonny’s favorite toy: Anything chewable MWD’s top skill: Detection. “I just have to hold the leash and walk with him,” Albright said. “He does all of the work and finds the odor.” MWD’s personality: “He is definitely a puppy. When I first let him out of his kennel, he will just run laps around the yard. While he is a psycho, he still loves his cuddle time with mom. He loves to be held by me,” she said. “Sometimes when we are standing somewhere, he will jump into my arms and make me hold him there.” What makes Sonny special: “He is just my special boy. He even has a patch that says, ‘Mom says I’m special!’ I just love that fact that he has such a high drive for working, but then I can cuddle up with him later that night. He lives for cuddle time with mom.” Why Albright likes being a handler: “Just like any other handler, I love the face that I get to work with a dog every day. If I’m having a bad day I can just play with my dog. Secret Service missions are also a benefit. Those are quality bonding times for my dog and I as a team. We get to spend nights together in a hotel where he has nothing but time with me.” MWD Kerry 4-year-old male German shepherd Partner: Staff Sgt. Shawn Toepperwein, handler for just over one year Time as a team: Over a year as well MWD Kerry’s favorite toy: “His Kong we use for training. He loves to play tug-of-war with us,” Toepperwein said. MWD’s top skill: “My dog is best at detection hands down. He has no issues finding what he is looking for and loves what he does. He has a personality, but he knows when he needs to work to get the job done. He is also very playful and likes to run around in the obedience yard with his Kong.” What makes Kerry special: “He is very protective of me and watches out for me while we do our job, as I do with him.” Why Toepperwein likes being a handler: “There are many things that I love about my job and getting the opportunity to work with some of the best-trained dogs the Air Force can give us is for sure the best part. My job doesn’t feel like a job to me and I don’t think I will ever have a job as awesome and fun as I do right now. Working with all sorts of career fields or branches makes this job unique and makes this experience even more memorable. In the future I would like to do something with K-9 – either working for the FBI or maybe the TSA at the airport. K-9 is a very important job and I love how much responsibility there is while working with the MWDs each and every day. Nothing compares to how much you can get out of being an Air Force K-9 handler. I’m very grateful to have this opportunity to work with some great dogs and coworkers who share the same passion as me.” MWD Morgen 5-year-old male German shepherd Partner: Staff Sgt. Bryce Bates, handler for four years, is handling his third MWD Time as a team: Eight months MWD Morgen’s favorite toy: Kong MWD’s top skill: Detection. “He seems to really like looking for odor mainly because he wants his Kong,” said Bates. MWD’s personality: “Stubborn, very stubborn. He likes to see what he can and can’t get away with when it comes to training. He has helped me grow as a handler due to his stubbornness, so I kind of like that about Morgen.” What makes Morgen special: “You never know what mindset he is in for the day. Some days he is hyper and ready to go and then somedays he is a cranky old man. Every day is different with him. He will work until the point he can’t do it anymore, then he will keep working somehow. He is truly amazing.” Why Bates likes being a handler: “I like being a handler because you get to work with dogs every day. You get to train them and improve skills and get to see what they can really do. When you work on something and then the dog finally understands the task, it makes you feel good about what you accomplished with him.” MWD Kennel Master: Tech. Sgt. Adam Chambers, kennel master on base for one year, has spent 10 years working with MWDs Duties: Overseeing the kennel operations, MWDs and handlers, coordinating responses with 88 SFS leadership to incidents at Wright-Patterson AFB, serving as a subject matter expert on what MWDs can do in terms of detecting explosives or narcotics and advising how to tactically approach the situation at hand Part of the mission: “We support the president of the United States and vice president of the United States missions. With the VPOTUS’ home state of Indiana next to Ohio, we get tasked out for support quite a bit,” Chambers said. “It’s a unique opportunity, and we get to network with a number of outside agencies. That’s something a lot of service members don’t get to do.” Career highlight: As soon as he made rank as a technical sergeant, Chambers was deployed as a kennel master in the Middle East. “That was a unique, really rewarding experience,” he said. “The operation tempo is a bit different than in garrison. It was really neat to see a down-range environment. You have to think outside the box a little more on how to approach situations.” What he misses about being a handler: “I’ve had five dogs as a handler. Each one of them has a different personality,” Chambers said. “It’s a great feeling that a dog has that kind of passion to please you. The skills they have – there is no technology that can beat a dog’s nose. You have a buddy on shift everywhere you go.” Final comment: “Being a military working dog handler is the best job you can have in the Air Force. Our handlers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base want to train and advance these dogs. That’s what we’re here for: to advance them and make sure this base is safe.” MWD trainer: Staff Sgt. Philip Mason, training MWDs and their handlers for one year Why he likes being a trainer: “I love my job and the people and dogs I work with. I love seeing results of the work we put in with the dogs and the handlers,” he said. Time as a handler: About seven years, deploying to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia What he sees in the base’s current cadre of MWDs: “Casey and Rudo are really good at detection. Misha is a ‘green’ dog, and she and Sims are excelling in their training. I also like working with Kerry (a 4-year-old male German shepherd). When I got him, he was brand-new, so I kind of built him up. Now I am showing Sims how to do that with Misha.“Morgen (a German shepherd) is a little hard-headed. He doesn’t like to let go of the wrap on occasion – the bite guard protecting a training subject’s arm. He has to go back to the building blocks of training sometimes. Sonny (a 3-year-old male German shepherd) is an all-around great dog. He is another young dog, but he excels at all tasks. His detection and patrol work are spot on. He has a great work ethic.” Goofiest dog: “Kerry is the goofiest. He could lick us all in the face, then go to training and try to take us down,” Mason said. “He can turn it on and off.”