We are honored to be joined AGAIN by former Secret Service Officer Marshall Mirarchi . In case you need a reminder, Mirarchi previously joined us in Episode 107. In that episode, listeners take a peek behind the curtain with us ⁣ Hear the process of becoming a Secret Service agent (and what baseball  has to do with learning marksmanship ), joining Special Ops – Emergency Response Team, to the K9 class, what it’s like on the job handling a dog of this caliber, and what K9 Hurricane has been up to in his retirement. ⁣

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Mirarchi and K9 Hurricane have had quite the career. Mirarchi was a USSS agent for over a decade, and with K9 Hurricane the pair has received many awards; DHS Award for Valor, USSS Award for Merit, AMC Top Dog Award, PDSA Order of Merit, to name a few!  They recently were awarded Animals in War and Peace Distinguished Service medal. ⁣

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In this episode, they joined us to talk about his foundation, Hurricane’s Heroes, and they are making quite the impact in the working dog community by helping these heroes.⁣ Typically, when a working dog retires, all of the day-to-day care and medical bills become the handler’s responsibility. Occasionally, the handlers are not able to fulfill this financial obligation in its entirety. This results in the canines not being able to get the medical care they deserve, especially in their later years when it comes to prolonging their lives as long as possible. ⁣To ensure these heroes live a long and happy retirement, Hurricane’s Heros wants to remove the burden from the handlers and let their job simply be to give their partners the best life possible. After years of service, these working dogs deserve to have long and enjoyable retirements, as “just” dogs. ⁣

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We cannot thank Mirarchi enough for joining us on this awesome episode! Go follow Mirarchi and his amazing volunteer-run non-profit organization at @K9Hurricane. If you can, please donate to help support their mission of providing subsidized veterinary care to retired law enforcement and military dogs at K9hurricanesheroes.org!⁣

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