Mike Ritland served as a United States Navy SEAL for 12 years. During his service, he navigated the training ground and battlefield within the special operations community. While on deployment in Iraq with a group of Marines and their combat K9, this highly trained combat dog saved the Marines’ lives during a dangerous operation, making the K9 a true hero. And just like that, a light switch went off for Mike. Using the knowledge gained as a SEAL and his growing experience with the most elite dogs in the world, he left the military in 2008 to start his own dog company, Trikos International. Trikos’ reputation, forged from Mike’s career as a SEAL, grew rapidly. The company was awarded government contracts with DHS, DOD, TSA, and Customs & Border Protection. Circa 2010, Mike Ritland and Trikos International accepted the contract as the training group for the West Coast SEAL Canine Program and reunited Mike with his former teammates. Trikos became a highly reputable dog training & procurement company that specialized in providing working K9s to a multitude of clients to include celebrities, private individuals, and government agencies. Mike’s career brought him full circle while working on the West Coast. He discovered that former high-level working dogs were being euthanized when they could no longer serve. Most of these dogs were psychologically compromised from chaotic and traumatic experiences that occurred while “doing the job.” After years of service in some of the worst places on earth, they were physically broken down, causing many to default to aggression. Mike saw this as another opportunity to make an impact, so he started the Warrior Dog Foundation. The purpose of the foundation is to prevent euthanization and provide care & dignity to retired working dogs who have served in any capacity. Some dogs are rehabbed or rehomed, if possible. For others, the goal is to make them comfortable while bringing them back to health. Since 2010, the foundation has cared for over 200 dogs who were all scheduled for euthanization. Training and rehabbing the finest working dogs on the globe provided empirical data for what all breeds require mentally, physically, and emotionally. The methods and proper canine nutrition required to care for these warriors further expanded Mike’s experience, thus revolutionizing his methods. Warrior Dog Foundation: https://warriordogfoundation.org/ Today's Sponsors: Black Rifle Coffee: https://www.blackriflecoffee.com/ LMNT: https://www.drinklmnt.com/clearedhot
Full Episode
Morning, everybody. Welcome back. Today's guest is Mike Ritland. I've known Mike for quite some time. And actually, at the end of the episode, we were talking about his podcast, the Mic Drop podcast, which is fantastic, by the way. And I had been on it years ago. I didn't realize I was one of his first guests. I think we started it at relatively the same time period.
Former Navy SEAL, very, very accomplished canine trainer. I would send you over to MikeRitland.com as the best place to gather information about him. It's going to tell you everything that you would want to know, and I'll drop it in the show notes.
It's a little bit of background, the dog training, what they do with the dogs, the dog food, all of the stuff that we ended up talking about on the podcast. So I'll send you towards that. Man, we talked about a variety of things. what he's considered to be the founder of on the internet, whether there's truth to any of that stuff. We really get into it. So let's just get into the episode.
Before I do that, though, stick with me for a little bit. Let me pay the bills, and then we'll be off and running with Mr. Mike Ritland. Osama Bin Laden Are there conspiracy theories surrounding it? Yes, there are. Is there contention about who may have done what? Yes, there is. But who cares? We're talking about coffee. So this would be part of the exclusive coffee subscription, the ECS.
I haven't even gotten my bag of this yet, which is quite frustrating. The bag art, spectacular as usual. Who doesn't want to see an owl wearing night vision goggles? I do. That's actually doesn't look like what's on the bag. On the bag is a dude which looks like what's an M4, some panos on, you know, throwing it back a little homage, if you will, to Operation Neptune Spirit.
And again, there's a what's it about, what's the ECS about, what is a micro lot? I don't even know the answer to that. What is a micro lot? A micro lot offers a distinct and sought-after exotic coffee roast, carefully chosen by Evan Hafer, also known as Micro SF, and the BRCC coffee development team. You guys know the deal. You can look at all their different types of coffee.
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Okay, got the red smoke. Fuck! North and south.
West of the smoke. West of the smoke. Okay, copy. West of the smoke. I'm looking at danger close now. Come on, win it, baby. Give it to me. I need it. Get clear and hot. Copy. Clear and hot.
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