About Us
Our Mission- to provide a forever home to our Nation's fiercest canine heroes.
We are a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving as many retiring Military, Contract and Law enforcement K9's as we can care for. We specialize in dogs that are usually not able to be adopted out because of Behavioral or medical reasons.
We give our dogs an opportunity to find their inner dog again, whether it's through making new dogs friends, relaxing in the sun to watch the mountains, or if they are physically capable, giving them the chance to learn great new "jobs" like swimming and dock diving. One of our extremely young Navy washouts went on to earn his IPO1 Title, and our own MWD Zorro P793 was the first retired Military Working Dog to earn an invite to NADD dock diving nationals in 2019!
Most of our dogs were within days of being euthanized because an experienced, safe home could not be found for them. The military has made leaps and bounds in the progress they have made in regards to the adoption program, but there is such a small percentage of homes out there that understand the difficulties that some dogs will have due to training, and medical issues. Our dogs come to us usually through handlers that can not adopt their own dog because of small children at home, still deploying, other dogs, or inexperienced family left to care for them. Handlers and kennels want to try to find the best options they can to give their partners a great retirement.
Needed Items
Monetary donations are always greatly appreciated as our medical costs are fairly high due to the type of work these dogs performed for many years. We currently have dogs with Cancer, kidney issues, arthritis, DJD and vision issues.
Heavy duty toys like KONGS (Wobblers, balls and Wubbas), GoughNuts and Benebones are always a popular necessity here at the Pack!
We also go through a fair amount of beds :) Kuranda's, K9 Ballistic beds and Costco Round beds are favorites
Our future plans include building a 12 dog kennel to be able to save many more dogs as the need for us grows. We will be looking for grants and possibly corporate and private sponsors as we get closer to that goal.
The Pack
My husband and I purchased 10 acres in the Desert Mountains of San Diego County in hopes of making this dream come true. My husband is currently active duty Navy, at 21 years of service. I am a prior Navy handler, serving from 2006-2011, then worked for the Dept of Army as a Civilian Veterinary Technician from January 2012- February 2020.
Our property has become lovingly known as "The Pack". We are home to two BLM burro rescues from Las Vegas, four horses (including a new BLM Mustang yearling), four goats, cats and several dogs, not only the MWD's. We also temp foster for the Woof Project, a Belgian Malinois rescue on the West Coast. Sometimes you will even find wild rabbits, mice or a chicken!
How To Adopt
Executive Director/Founder:
Krystal Tronboll
501(c)3 tax exempt (April 2014)
EIN# 47-1664853
The Ddamien Project is a division of Mission K9 Rescue (www.missionk9rescue.org), the leading non profit organization providing the most support to our retired working dogs that have served not only our country, but world wide. From transport home to prior handlers at time of retirement, rescue from shelter or kennels, medical care, rehabilitation, adoption opportunities and life long sanctuary for those who need it.
How To Adopt
Great Organizations
How To Adopt
Due to our Dogs past history and the relationship we have built in the working dog community, our dogs are with us for life and can not be adopted out for liability reasons. We do, on occasion, foster dogs for some of our great friends! So feel free to reach out to see if we know of any in our area or have a foster available!
We encourage anyone interested in adopting their own Hero to reach out to:
Mission K9 Rescue
K9 Hero Haven
Did you know that the Military has it's own breeding program? Not all of them can make the High standards to make it to the fleet, and sometimes they just don't agree with the military lifestyle, so check out the awesome dogs of the Mal-ffunctions Disqualified Working Dog Rescue!!
Reach out to your Local Military Installations to see if they have any MWD's coming up for adoption that need a home!
And For those looking for a Service Dog (Retired MWD's do NOT make good service dogs)
https://k9bascofoundation.org/
To enhance the quality of life for physically and psychologically wounded First Responders and Veterans by providing custom trained service dogs at no cost to the recipient.
Great Organizations
Great Organizations
Great Organizations
Great Organizations are out there helping us and our K9 Hero's!
We can not thank the US War Dog Association enough for always being there, not only for our retired Military Working Dogs, but our active duty Dog Teams as well. It is thanks to them that we were able to take MWD Doky to Red Bank Veterinary Hospital in March for his Cancer work up, and their prescription program has been a significant reason we are able to help as many MWD's as we can. They also have the great program that got MWD Baiky his doggie wheelchair.
A fantastic program that is out there reminding all of us about the ultimate sacrifice our handlers and our dogs are making, and that is currently working with our Active Duty Kennels is the Feed The Dawgs Project.
https://wardogmemorialcolorado.org/
Our sincere desire is for the War Dog Memorial to honor the devotion and selfless sacrifice of all war dogs and, be a place of reflection for those who have served with and whose lives were saved by these amazing “heroes with fur”.
For generations to come, this Memorial will stand to honor the War Dogs that are truly, our “Forgotten Heroes”.
Our Sponsors
Great Organizations
Great Organizations
Agape Ranch Dog Sports has been nothing but supportive, encouraging and loving of what we trying to do!
They are a facility that is geared towards wanting people of all dog backgrounds to take the time to enjoy being with their dogs! Everything from Dock Diving, AKC Nosework, Agility, and Schutzhund is offered at this fantastic location.
They love having our retired MWD's come out, hear their stories, and be part of the transition from serving our country, to going back to being a happy bouncing dogs! Keeping our dogs physically active and mentally stimulated is one of the most important things to helping them through some of our dog behavioral issues.
http://agaperanchdogsports.com/
And to our wonderful friend at
Let There Be Collars
for donating collars not only for our newest MWD'S who sometimes come to us naked, but also always being there for us for gift baskets and donations to support the dogs!
https://www.lettherebecollars.com/
We want to thank the wonderful staff at Tsavo's Canine Rehabilitation in Escondido, CA! They have been instrumental in providing post operative rehabilitation to both MWD Bruce and MWD Rudy. They are currently sponsoring MWD Rudy's swim therapy that he loves so much!
Donate Now
Your generous gift will help us fund our mission to care for our Retired K9 Veterans. Together, we can make a difference.