05/31/2026
My Name is Matthew Tarlton Matty Tango
I am cofounder of Building Battle Buddies
This is my story,
I am a 23 year Navy veteran and retired Senior Chief of the United States Navy. I was a dog handler, trainer and Kennel Master for the majority of my Naval career. During active duty my service took me all over the world and I deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and other conflict areas around the globe. I was honored to deploy with both conventional and special operations units in the global war on terror.
While I was at my last duty station and preparing to retire into a scary unknown civilian world. I was in a bad place, I was drinking to excess regularly, I had been in a motorcycle wreck, I was going through a separation/divorce, all while being generally unhappy and out of shape.
I felt an intense loss of identity being a dog handler and leader was everything to me and all I thought I knew. Years of deployments, military life and my demons caught up with me while leaving me with an overwhelming hopeless feeling.
During this time my sister was breeding Belgian Malinois dogs in Colorado. She decided to gift me Loki a high drive Malinois pup. My initial thought was to teach Loki a bunch of high speed training market him and sell him.
“That didn’t happen”
Loki was the best gift I have ever recieved. He changed my life he got me outside walking on the beach, he gave me joy again. Teaching and watching him thrive gave me confidence. He got me moving again and provided me the confidence I needed in order to thrive as well both physically professionally and mentally.
Fast forward a couple years after starting a successful small canine training business. Angela Young and I started volunteering at a local shelter to see if we could help get dogs placed. What we found was a bunch of loving misunderstood dogs with trauma. This resonated with me because I could feel their hopelessness and all they wanted was love and to be understood.
Being veterans ourselves Angela and I always wanted to help other veterans but didn’t really know how. Immediatly it dawned on us that we can help! We could help by providing people like us this same experiance and try to save two lives at once.
This sparked Building Battle Buddies, where we train combat veterans and first responders to train their own service dogs through a 21 day fellowship.
I share my story for one reason to let people know they are not alone. If you know anyone who is struggling there is always hope.
Even if sharing my story only reaches one person who needs help it was worth it.
If I can do it you can do it!
To learn more please visit 👇
Buildingbattlebuddies.org 🦮🇺🇸
“Second chances for hounds and heroes”
