Navy Seal Dogs by Mike Ritland

     This book is about a former Navy SEAL that trains dogs to be used in the Navy. His name is Mike Ritland, and he tells his fascinating story of how he trains the dogs, how the dogs learn, and how the dogs are used in the battlefield. One specific dog was trained to detect explosives and boobytraps, but on the mission, he detected a bomb. Then, when they found three men in a villa in Afghanistan, they told them to stand with their hands up, but the Navy team didn't know if the three men were a threat to the squad or not. Suddenly the dog pulls on his leash sniffing these thorned bushes that were in reach of the three men. The dog started to bark at the men and the bushes, when the squad got the dog to settle they checked the bushes, and inside of the bushes were three fully armed AK-47s. The dog wasn't trained to detect guns, but he did. The dog actually saved the squad from being attacked and possibly killed. How the dog detected the guns, nobody in the squad knows, but they are very grateful for it. This amazing autobiography takes place in modern day at a military base and in the places of the Navy missions.
     I like this book because I have a huge interest in dogs, especially military dogs. The way this book is written makes the reader want to read more. The stories, the dogs, the training, all are made very interesting to the reader. When I read this book, I was so interested in it, that I wish that it was part of a series so I could keep reading more. Another reason I liked this book so much was because it is an auto biography, so any kind of crazy event that happened, you know that it's true which makes the game so much more interesting and enjoyable.

Keegan D.         Spicer       8/9