Seneca Hill Animal Hospital, Resort and Spa hosted an event at their facility in Great Falls to celebrate the retirement and repatriation of 21 life-saving Mine Detection Dogs (MDDs) from Afghanistan. Photo contributed
On March 10, Seneca Hill Animal Hospital, Resort and Spa hosted an event at their facility in Great Falls to celebrate the retirement and repatriation of 21 life-saving Mine Detection Dogs (MDDs) from Afghanistan. These dogs recently arrived in the U.S. to join families from around the country who are opening up their hearts and homes to these incredibly deserving dogs. Over the past three weeks, Seneca Hill has been providing all of the MDDs that arrived in D.C. with excellent veterinary care and boarding in their world-class kennel. These animals have spent the past six to eight years “sniffing out” landmines and saving lives in Afghanistan, and they are now being adopted by American families through an innovative partnership between the Marshall Legacy Institute (www.marshall-legacy.org), the U.S. Department of State's Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA) (www.state.gov/t/pm/wra), SPCA International (www.spcai.org), Mission K9 (www.missionk9rescue.org), and Seneca Hill Animal Hospital Resort and Spa (www.senecahillvet.com).
For more than a quarter of a century Seneca Hill has been providing compassionate, quality pet care in the Greater Washington Area. Seneca Hill is a family-owned, state-of-the-art pet care facility where veterinarians, technicians, doggie day care specialists, grooming stylists, swim instructors, and dog trainers are all committed to excellence in pet care and client service. The owners of Seneca Hill, Dr. Janice Homan and John Homan, have been strong supporters of the Marshall Legacy Institute (MLI) for the past twelve years and insisted on supporting the retirement of the canine heroes upon their arrival in the United States. The Homans and their staff have worked over the past several weeks to ensure that the dogs arriving in DC acclimated to their new surroundings and were given any needed veterinary care.
Seneca Hill Animal Hospital, Resort and Spa hosted the ceremony on March 10 to celebrate the work accomplished by the retiring Mine Detection Dogs, as well as their successful repatriation to the United States where they are joining excellent homes.
During the ceremony, Perry F. Baltimore, the President and CEO of the Marshall Legacy Institute, spoke to the gathered audience about the work these dogs accomplished in Afghanistan, and presented the Homans and their staff with a plaque and certificates of appreciation as a small gesture of thanks for their generosity. Steve Costner, Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement (PM/WRA), then addressed the audience, sharing the State Department’s role in helping to retire the 21 MDDs and his office’s strong support for demining operations in Afghanistan. He stated that MLI is one of the original five organizations that the State Department has partnered with since 1997 to do this sort of work around the world. Each of the retired dogs that remained at Seneca Hill was then brought out for photos with the audience members, including the sponsors of the dogs, the new adopters, and the State Department, MLI, and Seneca Hill staff. Following the ceremony, most of the dogs left with their adopters to go to their new homes, with only two dogs remaining at Seneca Hill to await their pick-up later this week.
For more information about Mine Detection Dogs and the Marshall Legacy Institute’s life-saving programs around the world, visit www.marshall-legacy.org or email info@marshall-legacy.org.