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Marilyn Walton sequel book sets the stage for K9 patrols

New book follows international  dogs from Vietnam and Scotland.

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By Elizabeth Hagedorn, Contributing Writer 10:15 AM Friday, December 4, 2009

In her first book “Badge On My Collar-A Chronicle of Courageous Canines,” Oxford author Marilyn Walton shed light on unknown four-footed police heroes who live to protect and serve.

Walton recently released the sequel, “Badge On My Collar II-To Serve With Honor,” which is longer, with more international stories of brave canines that are willing to surrender their lives in order to protect their handlers and the public.

This is Walton’s ninth book after writing her first canine book, six children’s books, and one WWII non-fiction book.

Walton first decided to write books about police dogs after going to police dog trials while living in Minnesota and working with the Humane Society in Oxford. As a result of the popularity of her first book in 2007, Walton decided to write a sequel.

“Once this book came out, I got requests from people that wanted me to tell their stories,” Walton said. “Since it did well in Canada, Australia and England, I decided to include international stories as well.”

Walton’s sequel profiles 15 teams from around the world and includes more than 140 pictures. The final chapter profiles K9 “Shadow” of Animal Plant’s K9 Cops, who is handled by the head trainer in St. Paul, Minn., Mark Ficcadenti.

“The stories range from poignant ones to two pretty funny stories of a dog from England and one from New Jersey,” Walton said.

In Walton’s second book, one story is that of a military dog that served in the Vietnam War, where out of 4,000 police dogs, 3,800 were left behind. Another story tells about K9 “Senga,” a female from Scotland, who swam against the incoming sea tide to apprehend a suspect who jumped in and almost drowned her.

“The dogs are not trained killers. They are highly intelligent and interesting animals,” Walton said.

Walton dedicated the current book to Officer Tim Jones and K9 “Laser” from St. Paul, Minn., and Deputy Matt Williams and K9 “Diogi” from Polk City, Fla. Both of these K9 teams were killed in the line of duty.

“The public isn’t aware of the danger these teams are in,” Walton said. “These dogs are pets too, but they are all business when they go to work.”

Both of Walton’s canine books made Amazon.com’s Top 100 Best-Selling Animal Book list. Her books are available at Amazon.com, Authorhouse.com, and the Miami Co-Op bookstore. The U.S. Police Canine Association uses both of the books to raise funds for their organization and they can be purchased at uspcak9.com.

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I am so very thankful to Marilyn Walton for telling the story of Rinny 681F Never Forget. I had the pleasure of handling Rinny 681F my year in Vietnam and an even greater honor to tell his story in chapter 2. It has been over 43 years since I left Rinny behind. I truely have never forgotten him. He taught me so much that year about being responsible and how to trust.
Wish I could have brought him home.

Thomas Wilson
4:58 PM, 12/4/2009

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Great Books and a great author altough I must admit I am a little bias.

Russ Hess
12:55 PM, 12/4/2009

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