Army Veteran Starts Foundation Honoring Our Working Dogs

HJ: What is the core of your mission?

Jason: We find that many times Police K-9’s and Military Working Dogs are exposed to hazards that other humans or pets do not encounter in their career. Thus, leaving them with many issues in retirement that they are not being helped with. It would be equivalent to our military members not having a VA program to help them with their injuries after service. So, the medical care is the number one priority in our program. We provide up to $3,000 a year to each program member, but many of them exceed that amount as some of their issues are very serious.

Let’s take K-9 Axel for example, who is diagnosed with Lung Cancer, Megaesophagus, Pannus, and Dermatiti

s. Axel’s medical bills exceed $10,000 a year, an amount that no active Police Officer or Federal K-9 Handler is prepared to pay to keep their partner healthy. However, K-9 Axel served with the ATF’s Special Response Team One and conducted over 200 high-risk search warrants across the country as a Tactical K-9. Axel was exposed to many dangerous environments in h

is career that has left him with severe medical conditions. We at Project K-9 Hero feel that he deserves the best medical care possible in retirement for his faithful and dedicated service to our country. Like Flash, when Axel retired from service his handler could no longer keep him due to home issues. We are honored to have Axel as our Ambassador with Flash and he now travels with us to events nationwide promoting our cause and speaking to Congress on how we can work together to change laws. To make sure heroes like him are taken better care of once they have given all they can physically to our country.

We also have a program in place with one of our corporate sponsors, Sport Dog Food, who drops ships food to heroes in our program at no cost to them. While in service all food for the K-9’s is provided, but just like the medical that stops once they retire. Sport Dog Food has even developed a Project K-9 Hero Formula that features K-9 Axel and I on the bag. A percentage of all sales come back to Project K-9 Hero to help the dogs in need within our program.

Lastly, we provide a death benefit and end of duty services for each dog in Project K-9 Hero. This includes paying for the burial or cremation as well as all final veterinarian costs. We have our own professional artists who provides a custom portrait of their hero on our behalf. This provides the handler and their family with a gift of their partner that they can cherish for many years to come.

HJ: What does a typical day look like for you?

Jason: The hardest thing for me to balance each day is the time I am volunteering for Project K-9 Hero and the time I am utilizing to run my K-9 Solutions International consulting business. I also serve as the Director of Operations for iK9 in Anniston, AL where I procure and oversee a variety of government K-9 contracts world-wide. Additionally, I serve as the Director of K-9 Operations for Xtreme Concepts in Birmingham, AL where I oversee the operation of the Third-Party Cargo Air Cargo K-9 Certification program for the company. As much as I want to work on developing and growing Project K-9 Hero each day, I must dedicate a certain amount of time to my for-profit jobs since I am not taking a salary as the CEO of my non-profit.

I wake up early everyday regardless of what time I get to bed or time zone I am currently in. The first thing I do is check our social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter for messages and anything that may need my direct attention. Then I switch to emails where I manage accounts with Project K-9 Hero, K-9 Solutions, iK9, and Xtreme Concepts. I make sure I reply to anything that may have come in overnight immediately and stay on top of business developments throughout the day.

Once that is done, I start thinking of my first fundraising post of the day. With having 30 special needs dogs in our program this material usually finds me each morning. This morning when I woke up I learned that Project K-9 Hero member K-9 Ace had been bitten six times in the foot by a venomous snake and was in the emergency vet’s office. An estimated total of $2300, which required me to get board approval on since we had already spent over $3300 on his cancer treatments over the last six months. Once I was able to get board approval, I took to our social media networks to start raising money. As the Founder and the CEO of this organization, I still write my own content as I feel that no one really knows these dogs, their background, or their needs better than me. I want to be able to relay that message to prospective donors. Throughout the day, like most days, I am interacting with supporters who have questions or want to donate. On this particular day we were able to raise a total of $2,980 in just eight hours.

It is not easy to raise that much money every day, and it takes a lot of persistence. It requires staying interactive with people, responding to questions in a timely manner, and updating your totals as the campaign progresses. All the meanwhile, trying to make the calls I need to make for my paying positions, and attempting to forecast future media appearances or travel dates. I will sometimes spend 16-20 hours a day working on promoting Project K-9 Hero, as it is my vision and my passion.

HJ: What experiences have best prepared you for your role now?

Jason: I needed every position I have had in my professional career to make this dream work. It all started with the discipline that I learned in the Army. Each job I took after that I learned and honed a new trait that has helped guide me where I am today. I don’t feel that I could have skipped any step in my career and still ended up as the Founder of Project K-9 Hero.

The one thing beyond the experiences that has prepared me best, is the individuals I have had the distinct honor of serving with and beside. I’ve had dozens of mentors in my life who helped prepare me for this from: my Basic Training Drills Sergeants, Police Officers I served with on the street with or on SWAT, my Blackwater Family in Iraq and Afghanistan, and to the 100’s of students I have instructed in the Federal Government. I feel that I have learned so much from each of them and by having an open mind and being diverse throughout my career has prepared me to run my own foundation and corporations.

HJ: What is the best quality a Vetrepreneur should have?

Jason: I believe one of the things that has made me successful as a veteran starting a business or enterprise is that I respond to others in a timely manner with substantive information regardless of how busy I may be at the moment. Countless times I’ve had people message me a quick question about our program, where I have stopped what I was doing to give them the attention and time they deserve.

You never know if that person is a $5 donor or a $20,000 donor, they have turned out to be both, but I try to treat them all the same. That special attention has paid off for Project K-9 Hero many times over, whether it be receiving a large donation or retuning that phone call right away that ended up landing us a spot on Shark Tank in 2017. I find that I close more business deals and corporate sponsorships because we were the first one to get back to them, or they like how much detail we put into our response. So being timely, transparent, and detailed in your everyday correspondence with all potential clients and customers is a key to success I have found to benefit me as a Vetrepreneur.

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