The Sheepdog Project

Mike Ritland born in Waterloo, Iowa, is a former United States Navy SEAL, public speaker and dog trainer. He created the Warrior Dog Foundation, to provide care to dogs that have ended their service in battle front, and the Team Dog Online Training Community. Ritland joined the US Navy in 1996 and served 12 years as a US Navy SEAL. During that time, he saw action in Operation IRAQI Freedom and numerous special operations missions. A nearby marine mission in particular, had a detailed account of an explosive-detector dog alert to a grenade booby trap hidden in a doorway, saving the lives of the Marines assigned to the mission. Ritland then decided to work with similar dogs, and harness their abilities to defeat the tools of modern warfare. Due to that, Ritland became a Navy SEAL Multi-purpose canine trainer.   After his service, Ritland served as the West Coast Navy SEAL Multi-purpose canine trainer. After his time on the west coast, he started Trikos International, which specializes in providing working K9s t