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
Chapter 1: Who is Mike Ritland and what is his background?
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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Chapter 2: What is the Warrior Dog Foundation?
They're just like, what do you got? What do we got in here?
It seemed that way. Picking it up was super easy. Yeah. Like they brought it out to me, like called my name and asked for my ID. Whereas like in Dallas, it's the huge.
Which by the way, is the way firearm should likely be handled by TSA and security. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen them just rifle cases just spit out at major airports. I don't know what's in there. Maybe it's golf clubs. Maybe it's not. Yeah. Michael, did you notice that the other Michael is the first guest ever to bring his own Drink koozie? I think we need to take a moment to celebrate this.
I think we should. Why do you travel with, let's hold it up.
Why do you travel with your own koozie? It's made out of fucking wool and it's handmade. Okay. So that's really the gist of it. Yeah, it's a sentimental thing. Like everywhere. If you go anywhere, you take that thing with you. Yeah, pretty much. I mean, yeah, I mean, I traveled here with it. I flew with it.
What other kind of shit do you travel with? So obviously firearm, koozie. Yeah. So where it's some pretty far ends of the spectrum here. Yeah. Is there anything in the middle? Do you like lighter? No. Crack pipe sometimes. I mean, you can always pocket pipe source that locally. I mean, yeah. What else you got?
Yeah, you got your little. We'll call it a satchel. Okay. Yeah, I keep kind of everything in here. Indiana Jones cares one. It's no big deal. Yeah. Michael doesn't get that reference at all. He's pretty masculine. Yeah, I mean, I just keep all the same shit that anybody would carry, I guess.
But, you know, I like to have... Can we be clear that just not anybody carries their own koozie? Like, let's just start with that premise. Well, I like to be a little special. Okay. And different, but... So, I guess you probably got a firearm in there.
Got a firearm in there. You got stuff to stop bleeding as well? No, actually, I don't. So, you're supposed to be your first responder, but... sometimes I will carry a tourniquet but the smallest one I have is still like I find that it uh, kind of gets in the way, you know, it's like, I don't like anything bigger than that to carry.
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Chapter 3: How do trained dogs impact military operations?
That was literally the only that I remember. And I'm again, cause I've heard this individual may or may not be litigious in nature. So we'll leave a lot out of it, but the stance, the whole theory behind it. And I remember him saying, cause he was the one who actually was there. Yeah. This you're good to go. You fucking murk people in bars with this. Like this is the one solution. I, uh, and I,
I avoid violence at all costs. Michael and I both do jiu-jitsu. I've been at it for about seven years at this point. Really enjoy it. You do jiu-jitsu as well, right? It's not magic. You need striking and all this. I look back at the things that I was taught. I'm like, none of that works.
Yeah, woefully inadequate.
None of it works.
I mean, it's kind of embarrassing, really. I mean, I know it's come a long way. But yeah, I mean, I guess to be fair, too, though, is that... taking a step back, if you think about the amount of time that we have to spend on everything else that you have to be really, really good at, it doesn't make sense to spend much time doing that. Having said that, the little bit of time that
that we did put into it could have been way better spent than it was.
And I think it is now, but I think what would have been cool is if they could have introduced something, whether it was Muay Thai or boxing or jujitsu or whatever, let people pick, right. Or just call it MMA. Yeah. Get people with enough that they could go. I mean, in the morning, like over my last, I was at trade at the opposite trade at, or the training officer, which one?
I don't fucking remember. It's 13 years ago. I think it was the opposite training over team three opposite, uh, trade at the first floor on the Northern side was that massive gym.
Yeah.
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Chapter 4: What are the common misconceptions about Navy SEALs?
How'd you find Jiu-Jitsu?
So I have two kids and when they were kind of in the late elementary, junior high timeframe, there was a pretty decent MMA gym there. not far from where we lived. And I just wanted to put them in it, basically. And so put them in it. They were in it for a little while. And then I would go and watch. And I was like, fuck, why don't I give this a shot? And did.
And probably not too dissimilar to some of your experiences early on, when a 16-year-old, 112-pound kid Makes you feel like you're getting raped by an octopus. I was like, this is embarrassing. And so then, yeah, I just kind of went full tilt into it. And I did get pretty injured or pretty badly injured early on. I had a full tricep tear with an avulsion fracture.
How did this happen?
It was a pretty seasoned blue belt that was a fair bit bigger and stronger than me. And I was in his guard, and he just went to trap my arm for a sweep. And it was almost more like a palm strike.
Uh, and I think I just had, you know, beat up elbows and tendons from, you know, uh, the job, but it just like, I don't know if it just hit me right at the right spot at the worst time or whatever, but it just snapped. Uh, and it wasn't violent, you know, it wasn't like, you know, being thrown really hard or, or posting really hard or anything like that.
I mean, it was just a very simple, just kind of little trap like that. And And it just snapped. And immediately I was like, fuck, you know, I mean, it was like I wouldn't say it was super painful. I mean, it was painful, but it was that burning like hot poker feeling. Something's not right. And immediately, like I laid on my back and I tried to raise my arm. And it just went like that.
It was completely disconnected. And so that took almost a year to get back to where I could just do like pushups really, you know, normally.
Um, and so I took another probably six or eight months from that time until I started rolling again, but I was really hesitant to do it because especially with doing what I do for a living with dogs, like having one arm completely immobilized me, I could put me out of business, you know? I mean, that was a really negative impact business wise. So
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Chapter 5: How does Mike Ritland train working dogs?
It's not a no consequence activity.
No, for sure.
It's a full contact sport.
Yeah.
The gentle art my ass.
Yeah. What? I will say, compared to boxing, Muay Thai, it's still one that you can at least go easier paced.
I can't even mess around with that ballistic stuff anymore. I have been hit in the head so many times. Or just the concussion history that I have, I have no interest ever in practicing a ballistic art like that.
Yeah, me either. I mean, I do think... Do you guys practice striking and takedowns? Takedowns, for sure.
Up in the Whitefish Gym, they'll do a jits with hits, is what they call it, and they'll put on bigger gloves. They're not hitting each other hard, but their strikes are allowed. But again, they're probably doing a lot of open hand and probably just touching and reminding you, hey, maybe inverting underneath somebody with your face directly underneath their fist is not a good idea. Yeah, yeah.
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Chapter 6: What are the challenges facing retired working dogs?
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, because you can't go faster than a bunch of 20-year-olds that just got out of buds. So you're always starting over, whereas... At the command, it's like you're starting with a bare minimum. It's just several years of experience.
And they're only bringing in a few people a year because they aggregate the people out to the squadrons. And the experience level and roster is so deep. But again, it's all in that narrow responsibility. If you were to task a JSOC command with a combat swimmer operation, let me tell you, that's going to be a fucking shit show. You should probably get that SDV. You know why?
Because guess what they focus on? This is not that hard of a formula. But again, it kind of goes back to people thinking that everybody from special operations is just a ninja. It's no. I wish, I fucking wish that was the case.
I think, I mean, even compared to a regular SEAL team, I don't think they're doing as much combat swimmer nowadays either. But I mean, yeah, to me, there would be no reason to do an underwater mission that's not exclusively relegated to SDV. You know, there's just no reason for it.
Why give it to anybody other than those that specialize on it? It's as if a hostage rescue mission were to come up, probably give it to the people. Let's say it was an airplane. Guess what, CAG? Fucking you're up. Yeah, yeah. Can you imagine a worse tactical environment than trying to enter an aircraft that had been taken hostage? There's no way.
Yeah. I mean, there's so many things that, that can and probably will go wrong in that, that, uh, yeah. I mean, what a, what a horrible fucking environment to have to go into. Yeah. And those guys are masters at it.
I mean, good on them. And for people who know what I'm talking about, you know, JSOC largely formed after the horrendous catastrophe of Desert One. The original tasking for Delta at the time was aircraft. Yeah. And development group was cruise ships. Neither of those things have ever happened for real, by the way.
Yeah.
That's where I came from.
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Chapter 7: How do dogs react in high-stress environments?
So now from a training standpoint, from my perspective, it's a bad idea because- What if they don't have a collar? I would use a belt. Okay. Like if you don't have a belt, use a leash. I mean, find something.
You got to shut the airway off is what you're saying.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can try. I mean, it's kind of like with people, like if you're in- Fucking PT shorts, the dog has no collar, and you're out in the middle of nowhere on a gravel road. You're shit out of luck. Um, long story short, have a fucking belt on you.
But, um, if you don't like, yeah, you can try to grab their throat, uh, very, very minimal amount of success, uh, you know, with trying to do that though.
So, so, so that dog that didn't want to let go, is there any way to train that out of that dog once he gets to that point?
Yeah. Um, and I would say that that behavior generally is also created, uh, you know, not to get too far in the weeds, dog psychology wise, but
That's, you know, for dogs that are bred that way, that's their kind of highest level of reward is being able to bite, which is why you probably ran into dogs that get really amped up when guys are stacked on a door and they're barking and fucking spinning.
I have, like, these fucking dogs. We'd start getting our kit on, and I'm like, hey, dog handler, can you please muzzle that fucking psychopath? And just sitting in a helicopter... And I remember like looking over and a dog just staring at me, just like, or doing fucking even house runs. And those fuckers, they just give you a little nip on the way by. I'm like, ow, asshole. Like, I'm the guy.
Yeah, yeah.
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Chapter 8: What theories surround the Epstein case?
Or even, even if you were to charge whatever you had to, like now you're not selling it because it's so far over price that nobody's going to buy it, you know? And so, um, To me, like, I don't know if we give our politicians too much credit to think that they're thinking from that perspective, but it doesn't seem like they are in a lot of cases.
I think it's the talking points that they run on. Today's episode is brought to you by Element, spelled L-M-N-T, but said Element. Man, I have been working with these guys for quite some time. What is Element? Well, it's 1,000 milligrams of sodium, 200 milligrams of potassium, and 60 milligrams of magnesium. It is electrolytes. It is salts.
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You know, when you're on a campaign trail, I think you can be loose and fast, right? You're in fifth gear. I think the wheels of bureaucracy, especially given the size that we have, you're not even in first gear. It's like a tenth of a percentage of first gear. So you can talk fast, but it moves slow, which sucks.
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