By Loreen Pantaleone
Robbinsville resident Loreen Pantaleone has dedicated herself to paint portraits of fallen or living K9 Heroes to give to their owners and handlers. To do so, Ms. Pantaleone created The K9 Hero Portrait Project.
While working on her latest painting of the 2012 American Humane Association’s K9 Hero Dog of the year, MWD Gabe K153, Loreen received tremendous support and feedback from military soldiers, their families and adopters.
"I didn’t really expect so much support. I had originally wanted to send MWD Gabe’s portrait to his owner/handler after learning of his passing on February 13th. MWD (Military Working Dog), Gabe had served our country on over 200 missions as an explosives and weapons detection in Iraq. I had been following his networking page during the American Humane Societies Awards nominations and after he won, I thought ‘This dog deserves a great memorial portrait’. Unfortunately, I was recovering from a procedure on my arm that was to help repair some damage during a riding accident with my horse. Once I was ready to paint again, that’s when I learned of Gabe’s passing. I kicked it in to high-gear and began the 100+ hours of work on Gabe’s 2 foot by 2 foot portrait, which includes his military vest with medals he has earned and, of course, the American Flag as the background."
While working MWD Gabe’s portrait, Loreen read about several other military dogs losing their lives during deployment, and then the FBI dog Ape who was killed in action in Upstate New York.
"That’s when I knew. I stayed up that night until 4 am and made my decision. I sobbed as I thought of that week’s K9 Heroes who had been killed and knew that this is what I’m going to dedicate myself to doing."
Loreen immediately began a web page and started working feverishly for the next two days to figure out a plan to make this work. Due to the materials she uses, the highest quality paints, gallery wrapped canvases, brass name plate of the K9 Hero, and a brass and wood plaque that is presented to the owner or handler, Loreen needs help with covering the costs.
"If I had hit the lottery, then I would have no problem spending my days painting portraits of K9 Heroes without asking for help. As a realist, I know the lottery is not likely to happen, so I rely on donations towards each portrait to help cover the cost of the materials as well as the hours I put in to a portrait."
Each portrait can take between 50 and 125 hours, sometimes more as in the case of MWD Gabe’s portrait. "I had hundreds of online photos to go by, but it seemed as though each one I looked at, Gabe’s image was lighter or darker, he was skinnier or heavier, eye placement wasn’t exact, etc. It was a struggle. But I know now that I will only be using the one reference photo that is submitted with the nomination page, so it will be much easier for these portraits."
The nomination page on Loreen’s website asks several question of the person submitting the form. If the K9 Hero was selected to be listed on the Current K9 Hero page, an image of the K9 and a short biography of the dog is listed along with a "Support" button. The Support button takes the user directly to PayPal’s website to submit anywhere from $1 or more towards that K9’s portrait.
The Support feature of the website allows many people to donate towards that particular K9’s portrait, easing the burden than if by just one person. After the portrait is completed and all donations received, the K9 Hero’s image is taken down. The names of every sponsor, whether for $1 or $100 is then engraved on a brass and wood plaque and sent with the portrait to the handler or owner to present to them who was involved in making this portrait happen.
The K9 Hero Portrait Project is always looking for sponsors, whether individuals or business. Loreen understands that many businesses only support non-profit organizations, but Loreen feels there is a conflict with being a non-profit with this project.
"It was expressed to me that if I chose to acquire 501(c) status that many businesses would have no problem donating to this project since, of course, it’s a right-off for them. But when I thought about tax-exempt status, I realized that by doing so, I could potentially be hurting working K9’s who are currently or in the future serving. Taxes to our government go to numerous programs, one of which is the K9 working dogs dispatched. So, if I don’t pay taxes on income generated by the project, I felt that would be hypocritical of the mission of this project."
What Loreen is referencing is the fact that not too long ago K9’s used in military missions in Iraq and other countries, were "left behind" after the mission was completed or the dog was too old to transfer to another. This was not the military’s fault as many K9’s are contracted to the military. The cost to ship a dog back to U.S. soil is several thousands of dollars, so it was "cheaper" if the contractors told the military to leave the dogs behind. After working months and sometimes years together, many soldier handlers were distraught knowing that these dogs who saved so many lives would be tossed aside, and who knew what would happen to them. Recently, a new bill was passed to return each of these military dogs home at the cost of the U.S.
"So, even if my small amount of taxes doesn’t go directly to the return of these wonderful K9 Heroes, I at least will have knowledge that I was doing my small part."
Within days, the news of Loreen’s project spread all the way to Afghanistan. The K9 Hero Portrait Project received emails from soldiers currently serving in missions over there. The first nomination for a K9 portrait was for MWD Rronnie, a Belgian Malinois currently in Afghanistan on his 5th deployment, two in Iraq and three, including this one, in Afghanistan. His current handler nominated Rronnie due to Rronnie’s extreme loyalty and excellent work in the military for the past four years. MWD Rronnie is also listed in a children’s book about military working dogs. The second nominee was for MWD Niko, a German Shepherd serving in his third deployment in Afghanistan and has also served with the Navy Seals.
The K9 Hero Portrait Project will specialize in fallen K9 Heroes as well. This is the case with MWD Alan F201, a German Shepherd who was trained and worked in explosives detection in the military district of Washington, D.C. MWD Alan F201 also provided Secret Service assistance in protecting the Vice President, the First Lady, and Foreign Dignitaries, and was especially known for being a Good Will Ambassador for the military community. MWD Alan F201’s portrait nomination came from his handler who served with him until Alan’s retirement due to stomach issues. His handler worked with MWD Alan from 2003 through 2007 and knew this was an exceptional K9.
"Some handlers have the opportunity to adopt the K9 they’ve worked with while on a mission, but in MWD Alan’s case, timing was not good and his handler was unable to stay connected with him. So this portrait will be especially touching to do. These dogs work, eat and sleep right alongside their handlers while on missions and each time a MWD finds and detects an IED (improvised explosive device), ammunitions, weapons and other explosives, they have saved multiple lives. The connection the handlers have with these dogs is immense. This is why I’ve chosen to create The K9 Hero Portrait Project. To help bring home the K9 Hero once again."
If you would like more information about The K9 Hero Portrait Project or would like to sponsor one or more paintings, please visit http://k9heroportraits.weebly.com/index.html
