Titanium and Gold: K9 Hurricane

hello and welcome to unleashed i'm karl metzler and this week we're heading to the u.s capitol to honor a very special dog in season one we introduced you to k-9 hurricane a secret service dog that stopped a fence jumper at the white house in 2014. hurricane received a host of awards for his bravery and now he's adding to his collection this week on unleashed there are over 86 million dogs in the united states but only a select few are considered elite working or sporting dogs [Applause] from police and military canines to hunting and sporting dogs and everything in between meet the dogs your dog aspires to be [Music] get ready to see man's best friend in a whole new light this is unleashed [Music] my name is marshall muraki i'm a former secret service officer with the special operations division and here's my partner canine hurricane hurricane's my best friend in the world he's been my partner for years we worked together at the white house from 2012 to 2016. hurricane is the dog that stopped the fence jumper who was making his way the front door the white house when president obama and his family were just inside um he's a hero he's my hero after that incident he got pretty banged up he he took a beating we had to rush him to the er that night they treated him took care of him got him back to work again but his his health started declining after that from the fight that ensued so he did end up retiring in 2016 and i have had him with me ever since so the secret service canine program is one of the best in the world we travel all over the world train with different units military police government the instructors at the secret service and all the k9 program is for the eod dogs and for the apprehension dogs i mean they are top notch you know when you're on the world stage like that north grounds of the white house camera's running 24 hours a day it's a lot different about how you have to go about your business you know when you're you always have that many eyes on you have thousands of people walking on pennsylvania avenue you know right there president and family at any time can walk out onto the grounds you know it's just it's not your typical scenario that you're in with a working dog you're always around vips and you're always always being watched that's why we put so much time and energy into the training the certifications you know we have to make sure these dogs are perfect the k9 program is so important for the agency because everything we do revolves around either protection in advance or protection on site you know you have the eod dogs and the bomb dogs you know every single event that the president is at everywhere he goes secret service bomb dogs are checking every square inch of that area there's no room for error you know the president trusts his family his kids you know they trust us with their lives it's hard to even quantify the importance of that you know you're not really judged on your day-to-day activities it's almost you know nothing happened today that was because of what you did and when you do come in and save the day nobody knows about it hurricane situation was a little different it was on the north grounds of the white house so you know his situation got a lot of notoriety but things happen every single day in the secret service that save people's lives or prevent serious loss of life from happening and they never speak of it the canines are the unsung heroes so a lot of the things that happen are because of them bomb dogs sweeping the property the apprehension dog's protecting the property we travel everywhere camp david wherever the president goes the bomb dogs go the special operations teams all go for me personally when i'm out at work having him with me it's just like this security blanket like i i trust all my teammates with my life but having hurricane there is it's almost like it's just an extra feeling of no matter what happens like you can't predict what people do i know what he'll do like he he will lay it down for me if he has to it's just i'm super fortunate that i got to experience my career with such an amazing canine i mean the impact that he's had on the country as well as me personally i mean he's he is a hero [Music] for your active dog not just any dog food will do it takes special care and nutrition to support their energy to work and play that's why we made kinetic performance dog food each kinetic formula is made with three animal proteins and no fillers like corn wheat or soy this lets you feed less and still get more energy faster recovery and better weight maintenance if health and performance matter to you give kinetic a try we build it for our dogs but you'll love it for yours when it comes to elite canine and handler training the best of the best turned to one place von lick kennels von lick is the premier full-service k9 training center and detection service provider in the world their world-renowned training methods and experienced training staff produce the best canine and handler training available anywhere when only the best will do join over five thousand law enforcement government and civilian agencies who count on vonnelich kennels october 2014 me and hurricane report to work for the night shift just like we always do we pull on to the north grounds you know it's quiet we're just hanging out hurricanes takes his midshift nap you know i can hear him snoring in the back we get about halfway through the shift around eight o'clock and uh hurricane almost you know jumps up out of the back and alerts you know they get so used to seeing the same things on the grounds at the white house they know what what sticks out you know what's different he actually jumped up like he saw something which caught my attention you know i looked up an individual was climbing over the fence the team on the west side over by the west wing deployed out deployed the canine stopped for progression of the individual but then between some equipment malfunctions and some other issues the individual was able to to break free again and started to make a run almost to shoot up the middle right towards the front door had uh multiple other operators on the lawn with me at that time they're all wearing black it's dark out it's not something we typically train for at that distance you know from that far with all those teammates in in front of you like that it's just not it's not a typical scenario that comes up but you know i had to trust my dog i know how good he is i know you know that he'll get the job done i deployed hurricane from the east side of the north grounds he ran from one end to the other weaving in and out of the teammates and eventually got to the individual took them down the individual's not feeling any pain at that that point so it turned into a wrestling match between a 200-pound man and a 70-pound dog and that's where you know hurricanes is being all heart that's where he really you know that was his moment he has one purpose in his life it's to protect dad you know he doesn't know the president's right behind he doesn't know the president's kid's right there he doesn't know he's at the white house he just knows somebody's running towards dad he's going to stop him [Music] it started to get really bad towards the end the individual was actually picking hurricane up over his head slamming him down kicking him and i knew he would never forgive me if i went in and interfered you know that would be like pulling a fighter out right in the middle of a fight you know that's that's his purpose that's his moment and i had to trust him and know that you know he would figure out a way he would he would latch onto the individual's arm the individual punch him in the head you know so hurricane would come around bite him in the leg he would kick him hurricane jumped up at one point bit him in the back and and pulled him back down which was how he got him down the third time after the individual got up and eventually he was able to bite and hold and pretty much pull him all the way back to the fence where he jumped we were able to send our other two teams in we cuffed the individual you know right after that i could tell there's blood everywhere all over hurricanes arms and legs um you know but tails still wagging all these years of training trying to pull him back after that was almost impossible i mean you want to talk about putting up a fight and he anything he could to get back in there you know you talk to your dog just just like you talk to another partner on your team you know i'm like hurricane we're good like let's go back normally you know turn around come back to the van maybe not that day you know i had to physically drag him from the front of the lawn all the way back to uh our vehicle get him back in and you know i'm trying to do checks on him make sure nothing nothing's broke and he's just staring at me with that tongue out tail wagging like you know he just wants he wants that gratification and know that he did a good job you know so i i'm usually not over the top with the good boy and the petting and stuff so that was one time where i was like you know all right i'm gonna let him know you know how important he is to me what he did you know i really i really tried to praise him as much as i could because he he was looking for it you know he wanted that was something that you can't train for that's not something that's happened before you don't reenact beating your dog um he stepped up in that moment it was a crucial moment in the history of the secret service in 2014 a lot of things were going on it's a few security incidents somebody jumped the fence two weeks prior got inside the white house so we were on the world stage we knew it from talking to our director we knew it there's a lot of conversations going on capitol hill about about our agency it was the timing of it more than anything you know the fact that the president and his family are right inside is obviously a huge deal and who's to go back and say now if that individual was able to get by hurricane and get in you know could have changed history so it's what his impact and what he's done for the secret service serving his country protecting me i mean it's it's been amazing he's had an amazing career [Music] do you have passion do you have drive of course you do but do you spend your days doing what makes you happy if you're not doing what you love you're wasting your time top tier canine is not just a dog trainer school it's a business school we seek those looking to join the pack we are driven we are passionate and we are strengthened by each successful graduate time to work some dogs i need you to get me out of the country out of here away all in exchange for a sip of coffee yeah it's black rifled coffee try some later [Music] why don't you head over to blackriflecoffee.com and get yourself set up with a coffee club subscription [Music] your grandmother's fine china those trendy sneakers your collection of hand-carved duck decoys auto owners protects your home because well somebody should that's simple human sense [Music] ask safari insurance in cincinnati if auto owners make sense for you oh now you do your job [Music] so after the incident we we took hurricane to the er that night brought him back out to the training center the next day you know to make sure he was okay you know you have the medical text look at the dog but then also the trainers because they're the ones who know everything about him the way he walks the way he moves see if they notice anything either we immediately got called out of there and were asked to report to secret service headquarters where director joe clancy gave hurricane the medal of merit that was the first thing that we did where i realized this is going to turn into something big shortly after that the the director of secret service actually took me to the christmas party as his guest because of hurricane and that's where we met secretary jay johnson of homeland security he ended up surprising us with the medal of to be able to say that hurricane has a medal of valor from the secretary of homeland security i mean it's a pretty amazing amazing award after that a lot of charity started honoring hurricane they flew us up to new york city we went to the animal medical center top gala they gave hurricane free medical for life and also gave him top dog of the year that's when we started meeting other charities and started thinking we can we can do something with this shortly after that uh the uk reached out to us the uk has been honoring animals for the pdsa since 1943. they do an award ceremony at british parliaments we teamed up with pdsa and we got there and hurricane got the pdsa order of merit it's the equivalent of a knighthood he was given that award right there at british parliament that was one of the most amazing experiences of my life you know to be there be another country he was the first u.s dog to get it you know just it was such an incredible experience that was 2019 and you know things things from that have been growing every day which has now brought us here back to washington dc for this weekend so now today the day has come i can finally talk about it we're here at the u.s capitol hurricane will be the first dog ever to receive the distinguished service medal this will be the pinnacle you know of everything he's done he retired six years ago the incident was eight years ago it's not just for the incident for saving the president for what he did at the white house it's for his impact on society as a whole almost like a lifetime achievement award they did not have this award before this was specifically created this year you know 100 years from now if they're still giving out the distinguished service medal i'll always you know be able to say hurricane was the first dog to ever receive that honor it's hard to put into words you know how grateful you all are all these organizations animal and wars and war and peace they put on this you know amazing ceremony here you know just to honor these dogs it's people who love giving back that's why i'm so proud to be a part of it i've had so much support to get here and you know hurricane will now have just another another medal that you know i can talk about and explain you know our journeys our adventures all the stuff we've gone through together and hopefully more to come so the thing that's starting to get hard for me is you know i'm well aware of hurricanes age he's 13 now in a couple weeks i'm fortunate every day that i get to spend with him that's why awards like these you know we'll travel anywhere that they're so important because now i want every moment every photograph every experience you know i want to have the memories that keep going like i said watching my friends lose their their dogs their working dogs the hardest things i've ever had to see they're different forever i mean you can they've lost friends and you know that impacts everyone but that dog that partner that especially if they were together long me and hurricane are going on 11 years now every day every night 24 hours a day i know that day is coming soon it's going to be the worst day of my life but events like these are so special because i i know how much he's slowing down i know that we won't be able to do this forever you know to be here we we did we spent all those years at the white house now to be here at the u.s capitol after coming from british parliament having him with me there's some other canines here who will be receiving awards that are no longer with us that their handler will be receiving you know without them that's going to be very hard to get through to it mentally preparing myself for that i can't imagine what that feels like and in my head i know that could be me in the near future to have this event to be here for him to be the first dog i mean this is just another another memory that i'll always have of him you know i i can already picture him being up there getting you know putting having the ribbon put around his neck and having him have his new metal i mean he doesn't know exactly what's going on but you know he knows when there's a room full of people staring at him you know he he knows it's he's doing something right you know and it just for me just being you know being dad you know i'm just i'm super proud of him you know i'm here because of him you know i'm just an outlet for him and all the great things that he's done [Music] are you tired of the same old toolbox that doesn't keep your gear organized clean or protected then you need a cam locker our exclusively designed aluminum toolboxes have hefty t-handles insulated lids and feature the cam locker system the toughest aluminum toolbox lock proudly manufactured in the usa cam locker will be the best and last toolbox you will ever own so keep your tools and gear secure with a cam locker toolbox 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have their dog retire it's one of the hardest days of their life and it usually comes with a tough decision a dog usually retires because you find out the dog has something wrong they can't work anymore the day the dog retires those bills become you know the burden of the handler it's hard to pay for a dog in retirement you know when they're they're technically not working anymore hurricane got an award in new york city at the animal medical center and they gave him free medical for life out of obligation i couldn't just accept that and know that all the other dogs on the program did not receive the same care you know we just had that that natural purpose to say we have to do something something has to be done i can't allow my dog to get this special care and all his brothers and sisters not get the same thing just because he happened to be you know the day the day was right the time was right you know hurricane was on the world stage the other dogs would have done the same thing so we started hurricanes heroes and we've been raising money now we are currently sponsoring 26 dogs and that's growing every week we take all the burden off the handler we have a veterinary care program with paul's of honor where they set up all the medical and we you know we pick up the dogs and sponsor them the ones that we can i've been through a lot with a lot of the other handlers you see family members die parents die being at being around a handler when his dog his or her dog has passed away it's it's one of the hardest things to ever see i mean i've those have been worse than family members funerals being in a situation where you have to make you know a hard call whether it's you might spend x amount of dollars and it may or may not extend the dog's life we remove that burden from the handler you get to see all these lives that are affected just by these working dogs when they retire as well you know they still have a secondary purpose they become part of these officers families that's why the the program is so important we've been super fortunate that we've had so many people step up and help us as well we most recently had black rifle coffee company i knew they were the right right people to reach out to i know about their brcc gives program everyone's been telling me you know you got to get in touch with them call them i was honestly just looking for a donation from them instead you know a couple days later hurricane had a full brand new kit you know because the old one was getting pretty beat up and they've actually made a hurricane roast canine coffee where all the profits will go directly to hurricanes heroes 501c3 that's how we're able to keep the charity going you know people like that who are willing to just step up and say absolutely will help as i got to know marshall better you know when we first had him out there to salt lake and i got to meet hurricane which was awesome i i assumed that like military service you know being a veteran or so still in the service that you get tricare for life or there's some sort of mechanism to take care of these heroes and these animals that have you know given their life and and their dedication to the job to come to find out that that's it once you're done once you're retired you get nothing so it was it was an eye-opener to me and it made all the more sense to support you know canine hurricane's heroes when we learned about the hurricane story which everybody knew the story but we were able to more intimately become involved we had a vision of like you know what we sell coffee let's make him his own batch of coffee and make sure that all the profits go back to exactly where it's supposed to be so we aligned the announcement with national war dog day so on sunday you'll be able to sign up to get an email when the bag is available because it's coming hot off the presses on the roadster as we speak so it'll be available obviously it'll be emailed but it'll be available in april so you know i have hurricane's pitcher on a coffee bag you know it's it's amazing all the profits will go directly to hurricanes heroes 501c3 so anyone loves coffee dogs i mean this this is your opportunity to to make sure that that money you know gets gets to where it needs and we'll make sure that that money and all the profits from this hurricane roast bag we'll make sure it gets to the dogs who need it most so being here today at the u.s capitol it's bittersweet we are here at the capital day hurricanes receiving the distinguished service medal this one's really getting to me you know when i look back and i i see all the friends that have lost their dogs and what they've went through and i know that i'm gonna have to go through that one day the one thing that you know gives me some peace of mind is i know that because of the charity and because of the impact that he's had on society his name will live on and he will continue to do good even after he passes you know hurricanes heroes will still be raising money for canines long after hurricane's gone so his impact you know his stamp on the world will will be there and that's what will get me through you know those times without him just knowing he's not here he's still making a difference he's still giving back he you know you can't really quantify everything that these police dogs do these military dogs do i mean aside from their service what they do to become part of someone's family the impact they have outside of work the impact hurricane's having right now first dog ever to win the distinguished service medal i mean we're going to use this opportunity to continue to get the message out about retired working dogs like hurricane and make sure that you know no retired dog goes without the best medical care that's the message that we want to get across today he'll get his award and after that it's right back to raising money for these retired pups because they deserve it well congratulations the k-9 hurricane and marshall on a very well-deserved honor if you want to get involved with hurricanes heroes visit k9hurricanesheros.org and become a part of helping hurricanes legacy continue on for generations to come donate as you're able to help our nation's retired canine heroes well that's all the time we've got left this week we'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Unleashed K9s

Views: 10,887

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Id: BlL8Lbu8vJQ

Length: 25min 30sec (1530 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 20 2022