05/20/2025
Friends, in observance of Memorial Day, The Puppy Playground will be closed on Saturday and Monday for Daycare. I will still be here with my staff serving our Boarding Dogs and making sure they are taken care of as usual, but I want to give as many of my Staff Members a day off as possible. They work very hard here wrangling and playing with your dogs and keeping them happy and healthy each day.
Also, as a Marine Corps Veteran myself, this weekend is not just a fun day off. Memorial Day is a time for us to reflect on the men and women we served with that were fallen in battle. I also remember the good friends that lost the battle within their own minds after returning from having to do things that are not in our nature as humans to do, but we were called upon to do them anyway. I have been present at too many funerals for those lost in combat and those lost to su***de, and it has always been my life's mission to help save as many vets as I can that struggle from the unseen wounds of war.
One of the biggest reasons I built The Puppy Playground was because I wanted a sanctuary where I could serve again in a way that would also help to heal my mind. Dogs have a healing power that they don't even know they possess, but every day they wake up and spread that love to us unworthy humans because it's all they know to do. It is their nature to be kind and loving and that is why we all gravitate to them.
Lastly, if you see a combat veteran this weekend, the easy thing to say is "Thank you for your service", but instead, ask them how they are doing, and let them know you truly care about their sacrifice for this country we all call home. Let them know they aren't fighting a battle alone in their minds and that if they need help, you are there for them to reach out to. You would be surprised to see the reactions you would get from that.
The attached picture is a VERY YOUNG First Lieutenant Schultz (All the way on the left) on my first Deployment in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Some of these men lost their lives in battle, and some when they returned home. All of them are my brothers, and will be for life.
Semper Fi,
Happy Memorial Day!