Working Dogs Before, During, and After Service
Join us in person at the Museum or from the comfort of your own home to learn about working dogs and the support they can offer our military and our Veterans at this panel discussion.
In this session you will learn about the different types of working dogs from Veterans like Alex Schnell, who spent the majority of his career in the Marine Corps working as a Multi-Purpose Canine Handler, and Jessica Harris, who will tell you about her experience founding K9 Salute, a natural dog treat company that also works to help Veteran organizations. Joe Worley, a U.S. Navy Veteran, will share how he works with his service dog, Galaxie. This breakout session is part of our annual Pets and Vets Week programming. It is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Stay up to date with the latest events by signing up for our emails.
Former Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Joe “Doc” Worley served in Iraq as a U.S. Navy Corpsman. He was an infantry platoon medic in Second Battalion, First Marines in Fallujah in 2004. He was injured on September 17 of that same year. After spending time at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospital recovering, he linked up with America’s VetDogs where he received his first service dog, Benjamin, in 2008.
Benjamin and the change and support he provided inspired Joe to begin volunteering for the program, and he began working for America’s VetDogs in 2015 and received his second dog Galaxie in 2017.
Alex is a Veteran of the United States Marine Corps, serving for 8 years. He served as a Multi-Purpose Canine (MPC) Handler for Marine Special Operations Command for the last five years of his career where he deployed three times, all with his MPC named Bass, to Iraq (2016), Somalia (2017), and Afghanistan (2019). During his career, Alex received personal awards for his service including a Bronze Star Medal with Valor and a Navy Commendation Medal with Valor.
MPC Bass was awarded The Medal of Bravery in 2019. This is the highest US award a war animal can receive. Bass was the eighth recipient of the award in history. Bass and Alex both separated from active duty service in October 2019. Alex now helps run two nonprofits that support the military community; US War Dogs Association and Talons Reach Foundation.
Jessica Harris is the founder of K9 Salute, a natural dog treat company that honors and gives back to fallen K9’s. Each bag of treats has a tribute to a fallen K9, and 10% of sales are donated to designated K9 and Veteran organizations. She was named an American Small Business Champion by SCORE and Sam’s Club, and is a winner of the Bob Evans Farms Heroes to CEO’s contest, which supports Veteran owned businesses.
Jessica is a retired Veteran of the Washington Army National Guard, where she served from 1995 to 2015 as a medic. She served as a traditional Guardsman for the first half of her career, and then in an active duty status for the last half of her career. She deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom as a senior medic for 1/303rd Cavalry Troop.
