K9 Tambo’s Fearless Fight for Life with Chris Bingham

What happens when a retired police K9 becomes a symbol of hope for thousands battling cancer, grief, and impossible odds?

In this emotional episode of Conversations with Rich Bennett, Rich sits down with law enforcement leader Chris Bingham to share the incredible story of his retired K9 partner, Tambo. What began as a difficult partnership turned into a life-changing bond built on trust, loyalty, resilience, and healing.

Chris opens up about losing former K9 partners, reconnecting with his father before his passing, becoming a father himself, and how Tambo’s cancer battle inspired people across the country. Together, they discuss the lifesaving work of Project K9 Hero and why retired police and military dogs deserve continued care after service.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

•  How Tambo went from unwanted K9 to national inspiration 
•  The emotional reality of retired police dog healthcare 
•  How Project K9 Hero saved Tambo’s life 
•  Why hope matters during life’s hardest moments 
•  The story behind Chris’ new children’s book, K9 Tambo

Learn more:

• Project K9 Hero
•  Follow K9 Tambo on Instagram: @k9_tambo 
• Silent Hero Coffee Company 
• Plush K9 Tambo

If this episode moved you, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who needs a reminder to never give up.

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Transcript

Wendy & Rich 0:01
Coming to you from the Freedom Federal Credit Union Studios, Hartford County living presents conversations with Rich Bennett. "I love Rich Bennett." "I love Rich Bennett." "You're not that show-up!" "I love Rich Bennett." "I never played a lot more." "You're not that show-up." "I never played a lot more." "You're not that show-up." "No, no, no, no, no. It's not that." "It's not that show-up."

Rich Bennett 0:27
So what happens after the siren stops? After the mission is over, and the heroes we depend on are left to fight a different kind of battle. Today's conversation is about loyalty, resilience, and a bond that goes far beyond words. I'm joined by Chris Bingham, law enforcement leader with more than two decades of experience. Someone who has dedicated his career, not just to protecting communities, but to building and leading canine programs that rely on trust, instinct, and an unbreakable connection between Handler and Dog. But this isn't just about law enforcement. It's about Chris' partner, canine Tambow, a retired working dog whose journey didn't end when the job did. Instead, it became a story of survival, recovery, and purpose that has inspired thousands across the country. This is also a passionate advocate for organizations like Project Canine Hero, which provides critical medical care, rehabilitation, and a second chance at life are retired working dogs who have given everything in service. I have to tell you how I found out about Chris. My dear friend, Christie Brezzlin, contacted me and said that Stephanie from the Gregors Emmett Christian, I think even has like coffee, your own coffee brand or something like that up there. So of course, Christie called Stephanie and we're conferencing in and everything and he told me about Tambow. I'm like, oh, how? Yeah, I got to get him on without a doubt. So first of all, how's it going Chris? 

Chris Bingham 2:08
It's going. It's going. Thank you so much for having me on and it's always good to… I've done so many interviews but it's always good to be in studio 

Rich Bennett 2:16
Yeah, 

Chris Bingham 2:16
to do a podcast and it's so much more personable. So this is like only that out of the 30 some that I've done, this is nice. This is only the third one 

Rich Bennett 2:24
say. 

Chris Bingham 2:25
I've got 

Rich Bennett 2:25
Yeah, 

Chris Bingham 2:25
to 

Rich Bennett 2:25
you probably got 30,000 more to 

Chris Bingham 2:27
Right. 

Rich Bennett 2:27
do. I mean, God was everything you got going 

Chris Bingham 2:30
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 2:30
on. 

Chris Bingham 2:30
it's a lot. It's a lot. 

Rich Bennett 2:31
All right so first, I got to ask you first, before we get into Tambow and all. What is this coffee that kept hearing that because Stephanie said they used it in the espresso martinis up there 

Chris Bingham 2:43
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 2:43
at Mcregor's? 

Chris Bingham 2:44
so it's interesting. So Tambow has, it's true, he has his own coffee themed flavor and the way it came about as I hooked up with a company called Silent Hero Coffee Company in Florida. It's a vet tech turn coffee roaster and you know we were connected to a mutual friend and we started talking and you know he heard about Tambow's story and he said how would you like to have Tambow's own coffee and I said 

Rich Bennett 3:14
Wow. 

Chris Bingham 3:14
that would be amazing especially me being a huge and my family being huge coffee drinkers. And when we did the roast it wasn't just hey we're going to give him this random flame. We actually had a discussion about the roast, we want a medium roast, something bold and we really had a discussion on it and you know we launched it and it's gone on sale everywhere. I had some samples that I had given Stephanie at Mcregor's but now if you go to Silent Hero Coffee Company on instagram or online they're selling Tambow's coffee 

Rich Bennett 3:53
oh 

Chris Bingham 3:53
and 

Rich Bennett 3:53
I got to get me something 

Chris Bingham 3:54
It's amazing and my mom is a big coffee drinker and it's 

Rich Bennett 3:57
all me too. 

Chris Bingham 3:58
her favorite coffee, I mean it's great on ice or if you drink it black or you put some cream and sugar in it, it's just got a really good medium bold roast to it and 

Rich Bennett 4:09
can you get it in whole bean as well? 

Chris Bingham 4:10
Yeah. So you can get him in both but it's amazing and it's something cool about having your dog on a coffee. 

Rich Bennett 4:21
Yeah 

Chris Bingham 4:21
so 

Rich Bennett 4:22
wow 

so Tom if you're listening to this, you know I got to try to get that coffee to don't worry I'll slow order from you as well. I open air coffee, love it if you haven't tried it yet, try it. 

Chris Bingham 4:36
Yeah, yeah, I'm deaf. Right right, exactly. 

Rich Bennett 4:40
So for those people that don't know the whole story I wanted to go back and start with You in the k-9s 

Chris Bingham 4:49
yep 

Rich Bennett 4:50
before TAMBO. 

Chris Bingham 4:51
sure. 

Rich Bennett 4:51
Tell us about that. 

Chris Bingham 4:53
So just 

Rich Bennett 4:53
think that leads up to TAMBO. 

Chris Bingham 4:55
Yeah. So a little bit about my background, you know, I grew up, um, just with my mom and my sister, my dad left when, you know, I was just a baby, so, um, I kind of grew up, you know, without that, you know, best friend to start life with, which was, you know, as any, any guy can, can relate to growing up without a father can be, be challenging at times and trying to figure out life on your own and I kind of always grew up with that, you know, underdog mentality with kind of a, kind of a chip on my shoulder. So growing up, my mom was always worried I didn't have a lot of direction and couldn't figure out what I wanted to do and, you know, I finally rich had taken some classes at the community college in in Rundle and took it some criminal justice classes and I knew that, you know, right then and there I of found my passion because you know I'm the type of guy that if I'm, if I'm doing work, I, I got to be making an impact and I 

Rich Bennett 5:47
Yeah. 

Chris Bingham 5:47
got to feel passionate about it, right? So that I got into law enforcement from there and, you know, I got, I was lucky to get selected onto our canine unit in my early 20s and that's when I got my first dog, right? 

Rich Bennett 6:01
Is that usually unheard of? 

Chris Bingham 6:03
It is and it's very hard and and there was a gentleman named Bernie who was our canine commander at the time and I think he saw something in me, I think he saw a young kid that had a chip on his shoulder but was humble but just needed an opportunity to prove himself and, you know, he gave me so grateful he gave me that opportunity early on and trusted me to take on a dog that young so I got my my first dog wreck which was a stout dual purpose Belgian Malinois and I was living at home with my my mom at the time so it's like I had only grown up with labs and golden retrievers and then 

Rich Bennett 6:48
that's a big difference. 

Chris Bingham 6:49
Yeah and back then it's like okay here's your dog kid and it's like I'm taking this Ferrari home and you know I kind of had to figure it out as we went because my first dog or actually he was a he was a Tasmanian devil on a leaf. But we went on to have the I worked him for for seven years and we had an amazing career together and then I got my my second dog Tina which was an all black very large German shepherd and she was I got her tattoo right there. 

Rich Bennett 7:26
I'm like oh wow 

Chris Bingham 7:27
and she was an amazing dog but very different from Rex she was very methodical 

Rich Bennett 7:33
okay 

Chris Bingham 7:33
because you look at the when you anyone that works a dog that the Malinois's are very you know balls to the wall and like like I said there's Tasmanian devils on a leash and then the shepherds tend to be a little more methodical so it was good to to work a different dog and but I had great a great bond with both dogs 

Rich Bennett 7:51
yeah 

Chris Bingham 7:51
it was just very different the hard part was is after I worked the length of Tina I had gone on to take on some different leadership positions and left cana I was like hey I retired two dogs I had both of my retired dogs at home Rex was 14 and and Tina was was only nine 

Rich Bennett 8:10
oh so you very would keep both of 

Chris Bingham 8:11
yeah 

Rich Bennett 8:12
them 

Chris Bingham 8:12
yeah 

Rich Bennett 8:12
okay 

Chris Bingham 8:12
when when at when you're done working them that you could they retired the dogs to you 

Rich Bennett 8:16
oh wow 

Chris Bingham 8:17
yeah so I had them and I was living in Hawaii at the time so and Rex loved running the beaches on the the North Shore 

Rich Bennett 8:25
and 

Chris Bingham 8:27
you know Tina Tina was exact opposite she hated the sand 

Rich Bennett 8:30
she would 

Chris Bingham 8:30
she wouldn't go the beach and they were both alphas and it's funny because they they would sit butt to butt on the couch but they wouldn't interact 

Rich Bennett 8:41
really 

Chris Bingham 8:41
it was almost like yeah it was almost like this uh 

Rich Bennett 8:43
like a married couple 

Chris Bingham 8:44
yeah it was much it was 

Rich Bennett 8:48
pretty 

Chris Bingham 8:48
this unspoken mutual respect but they didn't they didn't interactive. 

Rich Bennett 8:53
Yeah. 

Chris Bingham 8:54
did their own thing and life was good and then that's when cancer struck the first time. Rex got an aggressive cancer and his was kind of expected so I was able to have one final day with him where I took him to his favorite beach on the North Shore. I took him out to get one more detection hide and I gave him a few hot dogs and then I took him in and set my final goodbyes to him and I wanted him to go out with dignity but 

Rich Bennett 9:29
Yeah. Yeah. 

Chris Bingham 9:29
that losing him really took a part of my soul because when you say goodbyes to these partners that you bond with so closely it's 

Rich Bennett 9:39
extremely 

Chris Bingham 9:40
hard and so I was like okay well I still have Tina and within a year she got cancer and then she hers was very quick and I had to make a decision on her I spent thousands of dollars you know trying to to save her and she was going downhill fast and we had to make a decision with her which was again I wanted her to have some some dignity so within a year Rich I lost both of my first two canines 

Rich Bennett 10:11
and now any idea what caused the cancer 

Chris Bingham 10:15
how did I cancer it's it's hard to say I mean it's it seems to be prevalent in just in a lot of dogs in general as they as they get older and it's hard to say 

Rich Bennett 10:23
I 

Chris Bingham 10:23
they're 

Rich Bennett 10:24
never knew that 

Chris Bingham 10:24
yeah and um but to happen within a year of each other was was tough so at that point you know going through that again and and that gut wrenching feeling of saying goodbye to your partner and then you know looking in their eyes and you know telling them goodbye for the the final time it it takes a piece of you 

Rich Bennett 10:43
yeah they 

Chris Bingham 10:43
and and I said to myself that as much as canines my passion and I love it I can't go back again because I can't not that I don't love it but I I can't go through that again 

Rich Bennett 10:53
of yeah 

Chris Bingham 10:53
of saying goodbye to my canine partners so I came back to to Maryland I continued on with some leadership positions and then as I mentioned the mentor Bernie that that brought me on as a young guy he had been elevated up to our one of our deputy chief positions and our canine commander position came open the same position he held when he selected me and he he kind of he kind of talked me back into to put an in for it and he was the one that that selected me for it and the hard part was a few days after he selected me for it he was he was going to take his trash out that night in the driveway and and collapsed and 

Rich Bennett 11:35
she's 

Chris Bingham 11:35
died from a heart attack and so it was like I had another loss and then it now was kind of losing that that father figure that I had in my life that I didn't get from my dad because 

Rich Bennett 11:47
right 

Chris Bingham 11:47
you know Bernie not only was a mentor at work but you know he helped me through so many other things and really gave me the confidence and it was a guy that that took a chance on me took a chance on a kid when when nobody else would 

Rich Bennett 12:00
there 

Chris Bingham 12:00
when when everyone said hey he doesn't have it in him and you know and I was able to kind of kind of prove myself so I wanted to fulfill you know that role as the canine commander in the way that he did and be a good leader the funny thing was rich is when I when I came back they said look you're going to be my boss that I had it was a coworker that I came up with in canine and she had said look you're going to be way too busy as a commander we're not giving you a dog and at first I was 

Rich Bennett 12:31
with that 

Chris Bingham 12:31
okay 

Rich Bennett 12:31
yeah 

Chris Bingham 12:32
but then but then I started thinking rich like you know after losing Bernie the one thing that's gotten me through in life through the hardest points has been my dogs 

Rich Bennett 12:42
yeah 

Chris Bingham 12:42
my working dogs and I always call them um the security blanket right because 

Rich Bennett 12:47
they're they're support 

Chris Bingham 12:48
they're that silent presence that are there for you when no one when no one else is and just that comfort and I knew right then and there that I needed another 

Rich Bennett 12:57
and 

Chris Bingham 12:58
dog 

Rich Bennett 12:58
those can sense when something's wrong with you too 

Chris Bingham 13:01
oh 

Rich Bennett 13:01
and they're 

Chris Bingham 13:01
yeah 

Rich Bennett 13:01
right there for you 

Chris Bingham 13:02
they don't leave your side and and 

Rich Bennett 13:04
now 

Chris Bingham 13:04
sometimes it no words need to be 

Rich Bennett 13:06
now 

Chris Bingham 13:06
spoken right and they just they just know so I asked my boss and she's like nope you're not getting one so for a year we went back and forth bantering didn't give me a dog and then finally I think I wore down a little bit and she's like okay you want a dog you got to take TAMBO and that's how TAMBO and I first came together 

Rich Bennett 13:27
I saw did you ask her why TAMBO what's up with this dog 

Chris Bingham 13:33
I kind of knew because obviously I running the unit and the story on TAMBO was that he had been through a couple other Hanlers and didn't work out and there was no aggression whatsoever this was just a dog that just didn't bond with anybody 

Rich Bennett 13:47
right right 

Chris Bingham 13:47
He was a, he was independent, a good worker, but you know, when, when people, when handlers, young handlers come on and they take a dog they envision him bonding with this dog and it's going to be this great, 

Rich Bennett 13:59
hmmm, 

Chris Bingham 13:59
right off the bat. That wasn't the case with Tambo, Tambo was just indifferent, right? 

Rich Bennett 14:03
Yeah. 

Chris Bingham 14:15
And I was thinking about all the names and just like nope, it's Tamba. Take it or leave it and I said and I just said, okay, I'll take him and I went home that weekend and you know, I thought about it and I was still still kind of hesitant because you know, I had passed Tamba several times on the unit and he's probably a dog I interacted with the least we were like two passing ships in the night. 

Rich Bennett 14:37
Oh, wow. 

Chris Bingham 14:38
he was just sitting in the kennel and. So I go up that Monday to get him out right and I'm looking at him and he's looking at me and then I'm looking at this dog. I'm seeing the labels I'm seeing guarded aloof stubborn and rich at that point, I said, my god, I'm looking in a mirror. This is this is everything that I've been labeled my whole life aloof, guarded, stubborn, hard to bond with and I was because you know, growing up without a dad, you put this armor on right 

Rich Bennett 15:11
And 

Chris Bingham 15:11
and and people still say today and I think I carry it with me is I always say I have the resting bitch face for a guy, right, because I always look like I'm about to rip somebody's head off 

Rich Bennett 15:20
right. 

Chris Bingham 15:20
But that but what that is and that's through self reflection as you realize when you're younger and you don't have that dad and you feel like you're not good enough you put this armor on right and I always would put this, put this bravado up like oh I'm too cool for school when you're younger and you know nothing nothing bothers me, but inside you're you're hurting and I think I've just carried that that resting bitch face through me. And my leadership position now is got to go out of my way to show people I'm a nice guy because it looks like I'm always pissed off so but I'm really not but anyway I'm. The same thing and and tambo I'm like man this this is meant to be this is something bigger 

Rich Bennett 16:00
yeah 

Chris Bingham 16:01
yeah and you know the bonding process with timbo it it wasn't overnight and for 

Rich Bennett 16:06
okay 

Chris Bingham 16:06
a lot of people that wanted that. That instinct gratification you weren't going to get it with this dog and and how you bond with a dog like that is just is being consistent like I didn't take him home right away. I came up every day I fed him his breakfast I would take him on walks and he was still kind of indifferent but you could see over time he started looking at me cock I didn't was curious about me. And you know we started working and he's great worker but he wanted to do everything independently so but over time and with consistency you start to build that trust 

Rich Bennett 16:40
yeah 

Chris Bingham 16:40
right and um our first nights together we're at it we had an assignment at a town and we were we were in the state and we were in a hotel and it was first his first time in a hotel and I had his very kind of in there 

Rich Bennett 16:52
Oh 

Chris Bingham 16:52
and. 

Rich Bennett 16:53
wow 

Chris Bingham 16:53
and so he's he's kind of walking around the room just kind of wondering what I'm doing and and you know I was on on the bed with my laptop and um he was looking at me and I would normally never tell a new handler to let their dog on the bed but 

Rich Bennett 17:07
right 

Chris Bingham 17:08
this was like alright this is a different story i'm going to try to get him. 

Rich Bennett 17:11
Try 

Chris Bingham 17:11
that 

Rich Bennett 17:11
to do 

Chris Bingham 17:11
up 

Rich Bennett 17:11
about 

Chris Bingham 17:11
here well he didn't want anything to do with it so. He went in his kennel and then I ended up falling asleep on the bed so I wake up round you know it's like an hour later and I hear this scratching sound and it's him he's next to me fluffing up the covers to. 

Rich Bennett 17:26
No 

Chris Bingham 17:27
big comfortable 

Rich Bennett 17:27
way the 

Chris Bingham 17:28
so I look at him my eyes are big he looks at me his eyes are big and he like sprouted up like a trampoline up in the air like I guess embarrassment and he bolted off the bed. But you can come back in and he was like nope so I was like okay well I end up going back to sleep and this was I talk about our first big Bondy moment I wake up at two a. m. And he's crult up at the bottom of the bed and. 

Rich Bennett 17:53
On the 

Chris Bingham 17:54
bed yeah and he was at peace and I could tell that he for the first time in a while he was at peace and he was getting. Comfortable with me 

Rich Bennett 18:04
bed or wow. 

Chris Bingham 18:05
which was awesome and so came back we ended up you know certifying as a team you know I brought him home and I think he also for the first time you felt like he had an. An area that was his at home because I was giving my dogs their own room so they got their they got their kennel but they got it he always give them an old big recliner if they wanna you know because I'm a firm believer with working dogs and there's different theories out there is that when their home. Is I let them be a dog you know 

Rich Bennett 18:33
On the 

Chris Bingham 18:34
and when it's time for work it's time for work and I that's how I. 

Rich Bennett 18:38
.. Just 

Chris Bingham 18:38
us. 

Rich Bennett 18:38
like with 

Chris Bingham 18:38
Yeah, absolutely. And, and I think that, that works better and that's always helped me. And, um, you know, we went on to have a, you know, a great career, uhm, thousands of searches, thousands of calls for, for service, and, you know, I worked for a, uhm, seven years. 

Rich Bennett 18:56
Wow, 

Chris Bingham 18:57
And, uhm, he retired at nine, he tore, uhm, he was getting ready to retire, but he also tore a ligament in his, uh, his front leg, and, uh, we were able to avoid surgery, but, um, we didn't, we didn't want to, it, it, it, going forward, it would have affected the way he worked, and he 

Rich Bennett 19:15
yeah. 

Chris Bingham 19:15
was getting up there in age, and so retired and, but it was great timing cause it was, uh, it was right around the, the birth of my son. And, um, and having my son in, in my, my mid forties, uhm, was, was different. And, um, that brought on a whole new wave of emotions. 

Rich Bennett 19:32
I was gonna say too, how was TAMBO with your son? 

Chris Bingham 19:39
Interesting, because there was rumors from, like, one of the other handlers that, dog wasn't great with kids, he, you know, he, he couldn't bond with kids and, um, but TAMBO, he was amazing, 

Rich Bennett 19:52
he, 

Chris Bingham 19:53
saw my son, I think, as an extension of me. And, you know what, Rich, it was great timing because when these dogs retire, they still want to work. And I think it gave him, it gave him a purpose in, in retirement. So he would sit, he would sit in front of my son's bass net, and, and when my son would cry, he would bark and, and, and, and let me know that, "Hey, uh, is it my son's name's Mackie? Mackie's crying, and, um, and he was, he wouldn't let anybody get near him if we went out anywhere and someone tried to walk up, he would, he would sprout up and, um, buck up and, uh, it was just kind of funny how protective he got of them. And, um, that, that kind of became his purpose for a while. But then, I talk about this story too. Um, uh, TAMBO's got an, uh, an on-reside, so there's this, this, and he's prey driven. So he likes to chase things. So there's a squirrel in the yard. 

Rich Bennett 20:48
I named this, I 

Chris Bingham 20:49
named the squirrel George, right? Because this squirrel would come up to the window, and he would fucking torment TAMBO every day, where TAMBO was going nuts. So it turned into this, like, modern day, Tom and Jerry, 

Rich Bennett 21:01
but, uh, 

Chris Bingham 21:02
I opened the door and he chased George across the yard and TAMBO loved it. He never caught him, but he would chase him and this squirrel was way too fast for TAMBO. So one day I was like, okay, George is out there. He's going to go chase him. Well, instead of running down the stairs, he, he leaped off the stairs. And, uh, I could once they say midspirant, he pulled up lame and, 

Rich Bennett 21:23
uh, 

Chris Bingham 21:24
I knew something was wrong. And, uh, he could barely, barely put weight on his, uh, one of his back legs. So I, I took him into, um, my orthopedic, uh, Dr. Dycus was one of the best, best orthopedics in, in the area. And, um, and we used them for working as well. And, uh, he goes, well, not only to TAMBO, tear one ACL he tore both and so in dogs 

Rich Bennett 21:48
of 

Chris Bingham 21:48
what 

Rich Bennett 21:48
people don't he was 

Chris Bingham 21:49
a lot 

Rich Bennett 21:49
pissed at George 

Chris Bingham 21:51
what a lot of people don't know is in dogs when they tear one ACL they're prone to tearing the other 

Rich Bennett 22:00
I didn't do that 

Chris Bingham 22:00
yeah so he needed surgery and that's when Project K9 hero first came into the picture okay and how I connected with them is I met the founder Jason Johnson at a K9 conference a couple years earlier and Jason told me all about Project K9 hero for those that don't know they're a national nonprofit that provide vet care for military and police working dogs that are retired that have significant health issues then as we talked about Tina and Rex earlier when they passed away when I was in Hawaii there was no programs like that so all that money what people don't realize is when these dogs retire that burden of cost falls on the handler which gets very pricey as these dogs I kind of relate them to NFL athletes right is they they're these prime athletes right and they put so much wear and tear on their body throughout their career but they retire is when the body starts really starting to break down and that's when they need us the most right so Jason had helped another dog on our unit that had the Hadel and Foma and you know got him in the program and was able to prolong this dog's life for another year and a half so we had stayed in contact so I caught him up about TAMBO and he got TAMBO right in the program and they funded his TPLO surgery right away which was for one leg was you know $7, 500. and so, uhm, so we did the first surgery, uhm, you know, TAMBO made a full recovery and then we didn't have to do the second leg because this one leg was stable enough but we were able to avoid the second surgery 

Rich Bennett 23:43
but

Right. 

Yeah, there is health insurance for pets. But being a canine, is that like a red flag to health insurance companies? 

Chris Bingham 24:05
Yeah. 

Rich Bennett 24:06
Wow, 

Chris Bingham 24:06
So for health insurance, you have to get those dogs for pet insurance. You have to get them in when they're young because it's kind of like us, if we go to get like life insurance at a certain age and they'll say, 'Hey, have you ever had cancer or have you ever had blood clots?' and if there are either they're not going to fund it or the price is going to be 

Rich Bennett 24:28
yeah. Sky... 

Chris Bingham 24:29
exuberant. So, at the end of the day, these life insurance companies are these pet insurance companies, they're not going to fund a working dog that's had a full career and say, 'Hey, we're going to give this dog insurance because the likelihood of that dog having health issues is pretty high.' And what I do want to say, Rich, is this is no fault to any of the departments. The departments take care of these dogs and they do the best they can when they're working but there's just nothing set up for these dogs 

Rich Bennett 24:55
when 

Chris Bingham 24:56
they retire. And that's where Jason, he started Project Canine Hero with $500 in his pocket and it's now grown into I think he raised 6 or 7 million 

Rich Bennett 25:09
wow 

Chris Bingham 25:10
through his non-profit. Yeah, and 

Rich Bennett 25:12
which still probably isn't enough for all the dogs out there. 

Chris Bingham 25:15
and Jason, Jason does it right because he really focuses on the dogs that have a really good need for to get in the program whether they've been, I mean, there's dogs in this program that have been shot in the line of duty stabbed, hitting their cruiser that have cancer. And he always wants to make sure that he has enough money to fund to fund their 

Rich Bennett 25:37
Yeah, Good, 

Chris Bingham 25:37
needs. Right. So, he funded Tambo's surgery. Tambo made a full recovery. And then, you know, we kind of after that, I'm a type of person that I wanted to give back, so I wanted to give back to the organization. So Tambo kind of became an ambassador for 

Rich Bennett 25:52
nice, 

Chris Bingham 25:52
Project Canine Hero and we did a lot of events and one of them was on Tambo's 11th birthday. We got honored by the Philadelphia Phillies in Philadelphia. One is 11th birthday for their Salute to Service game. So got to have my family there, go out on the field. I was out there with a bunch of, you know, war heroes, which I didn't feel worthy, but it was about honor and Tambo, and his service. And, you know, they put them on the big screen and wished a happy birthday, which was, which was amazing. Life was life was amazing right now was then, you know, my son got to see that moment and it was a father, son moment because getting back to becoming a dad and, you know, having my son, all the the memories of my father and not being there and and wondering like, man, how could my dad have left me. When I look just like my son, it was a spinning image of me, and so having those moments with my son were, were so important, but it was also invoking a lot of like feelings about my dad and my dad, not being there. So anyway, life was good, and so I was still going to work every day and, and Tambo was still on a routine and I, he was probably, you know, two years into retirement, and I'll tell you, he still tries to come to, he still tries to come to work with me. So it was a normal morning, he, he likes his breakfast at 5 a. m. I got up, I fed him his breakfast. He did, we took him out, he did his little routine where he tried to come to work with me, and I went to work that day, and I tell you, Richard, I got to work and I was having palpitations, I wasn't feeling right and I was like, man, I just need to go home and lay down. So I left work early, which I normally don't do and went home and I normally walk in and Tambo comes to greet me and that day he wasn't at the door. and something's wrong. I'm calling his name. He didn't answer. So I go into the dining room and he's, he's sprawled out on the floor. There was some vomit. His, he was very lethargic, could barely get up. His gums were pale, which was 

Rich Bennett 28:02
Ooh, 

Chris Bingham 28:02
indicative of, indicative of blood loss. Stomach was a little distended. So I didn't know what was wrong with him, but I knew it was an emergency 

Rich Bennett 28:10
yeah, 

Chris Bingham 28:10
and it was life or death. So I got him up. I rushed him to, you know, to the pet hospital in, in Bel Air emergency services and they got him in right away and they came out and they said, look, we just did an ultrasound. He had a mass rupture on his spleen and he was in the process of bleeding out. So long story short, if I had gotten home two hours later, he would, 

Rich Bennett 28:33
he would have been dead. 

Chris Bingham 28:33
we wouldn't even be in the situation. He had been dead and he would have blood out. So something that day told me to come home, but they're basically telling me like, look, from what we can see, his, his spleen is covered in masses. And and that also that this surgery is going to require removing a spleen and giving him a blood transfusion. And there's a very good chance he doesn't make it through this surgery. And oh, by the way, if you want to do this surgery, it's going to be anywhere from 9 to $12, 000. 

Rich Bennett 29:02
Jesus. 

Chris Bingham 29:02
So they were almost trying to convince me to let him go 

Rich Bennett 29:08
right 

Chris Bingham 29:08
and like wasn't worth it. So I called Jason up from Project K9 hero and I said, look bro, this is what this is what's going on. And Jay, and I remember this conversation clear as they call him as a cucumber, he said, bro, he said, what do you want to do? And I said, I said, I'm looking in his eyes. I said, he's not ready. 

Rich Bennett 29:25
yeah, 

Chris Bingham 29:25
He's telling me he doesn't want to die. He's not ready. Because I bonded with this dog. We we we came together, you know, the the dog that kind of nobody wanted and the handler that, you know, came up as the underdog and and and I'm looking at him and he's looking at me and he's telling me he's not ready. And I said and Jay's like, we got your back 100%. He said if you want to do the surgery, he said, we got you. So I went back and I told him, hey, I want to go through with it. And they're like, okay. And I said, just keep in mind, he may not make it. And and that's okay. So I went and I said my my final goodbyes to him just in case. And I remember looking at him when I got back there, I also talk about this in other interviews. It was the first time I saw fear in his eyes. And this dog has always been very stoic. And but when I got back there, I was getting emotional. But what I thought about in my life, because I talked about this earlier, right, this dog is and all my dogs have always been there for me through 

Rich Bennett 30:23
yeah, 

Chris Bingham 30:23
my darkest times, my hardest times. And I had to stop because now it was my time to be there for him. And when I did that, I was like, I'm dad's dad's here, buddy. I got you. And I could feel the calm, the calm come over him. And and I kind of knew he was going to be okay at that point. And you know, so I had to leave and they said, we'll call you in an hour and let you know where, how, where things are at. So I'm driving around. Seemed like three hours. It was only about 40 minutes. They called me and and again, they go, hey, we got him opened up and they say, look, when we said his, his spline was covered in masses, it's Yeah. Covered in masses. And we're pretty sure it's cancer. We can't give a definitive answer to we do a biopsy. And oh, by the way, we think the cancer is on the liver as well. So 

Rich Bennett 31:09
Jesus. 

Chris Bingham 31:10
are you sure you want to go through with the surgery? And without hesitation, Rich, I said, yep, I said, I want to go through with it. And they're like, okay, he said he may not make it. And I said, I understand. I said, but I know this dog. And so they did the surgery. They called me. He was in recovery. They said the next 24 hours is crucial. You know what? The next day he was up and he was eating. And yeah. Yeah. And that's 

Rich Bennett 31:37
Wow. 

Chris Bingham 31:37
the fight in this dog. So I go to CM and you know, I was there first thing in the morning, they brought him in. And it was kind of a cool moment because there really wasn't any word spoken. He came running to me and just rested his head on me. And we just sat there in silence for an hour and just just kind of just taking it in and just just our presence together because no words needed to be spoken. And what he was telling me was thank you. 

Rich Bennett 32:05
Yeah. 

Chris Bingham 32:05
Thank you for believing in me as I believed in you. And he made a full recovery from the surgery. And at that point they said, okay, we sent it off the biopsy. They called me within, you know, three to five days and they said, okay, it's it's definitely cancer. And it's a cancer called, um, Hamanjio Sarcoma. And for everyone that's not familiar with that, it's called the silent killer and dogs because these, these blood masses, they form on the, the spleen and the liver and what happens is is these masses rupture and when they rupture a lot of dogs don't even make it to a chance to treat it because they bleed out and if the owner or the handler is not there the dogs automatically just just bleed out and die and it's a it's a fatal and it's an aggressive cancer that should kill dogs within 

Rich Bennett 32:55
damn, but 

Chris Bingham 32:56
weeks or months so they told me at that point he's he's got he's got 14 days to live that's okay and I said I said well I'm gonna make an appointment with oncology and 

Rich Bennett 33:09
I never understood how doctors can determine how much time an animal or a human being has to live which has been proven wrong several times

Chris Bingham 33:23
several times and that's I wasn't I didn't I didn't really want to hear it and so I did my research and I looked for a good oncologist and you know living in Habit Grace you know Pennsylvania is obviously as you know isn't too far so I found a blue pearl hospital in Malver and PA which is about an hour and 20 minutes from from the house and they had a known for a good oncology team

Rich Bennett 33:48
you're listening to 

the conversations with Rich Bennett we'll be right back one thing that I always tell people is this your pets are family and when you trust somebody to come into your home and take care of them you want someone who's going to care for them the same way you would that's exactly why I love Nicole Wilson and her team at Sitz and Wiggles Petcare Nicole has been part of the conversations Rich Bennett Family for years and I've watched her grow this business into one of the most trusted pet care companies in Hartford County whether it's dog walking, cat sitting, pet visits or even caring for more unique animals the co-enter team truly care about every pet they work with and honestly if I had a pet right now Sitz and Wiggles would absolutely be my first call so if you're looking for reliable trust worthy compassionate pet care from people who generally love animals visit Sitz and Wiggles dot com again that sits in Wiggles dot com

Chris Bingham 34:57
and I took him up there and I met with doc I call it as a pronouncer last name I call a Dr. K but I met with her and she was very nice and she came in and she said hey Chris look we're going to do an ultrasound but if the cancer as they suspected is is on the liver chemotherapy probably isn't going to do much 

Rich Bennett 35:19
for 

Chris Bingham 35:19
TAMBO but we're gonna we'll take him back and we'll come back and let you know and she's like when we come back and if it is on the liver you're gonna have to make a decision because what what the risk is then is that if one of these masses form again and I'm that there and they rupture you're now at risk of another emergency 

Rich Bennett 35:36
the 

Chris Bingham 35:36
situation of eating out so I had all this stuff going through my mind 

Rich Bennett 35:40
and damn 

Chris Bingham 35:40
so they come back she comes back in and she has smiling her face she said look what they thought they felt on the liver wasn't cancer and it was it was just some benign cis and 

Rich Bennett 35:51
oh 

Chris Bingham 35:52
so he was a candidate for for chemotherapy at that point 

Rich Bennett 35:56
okay 

Chris Bingham 35:56
because he still had the the cancer but it just wasn't it wasn't on the liver 

Rich Bennett 36:01
right 

Chris Bingham 36:01
so I again I called Jason up and Jason's like I said hey he can start chemo today and I said the chemo they told me chemo is going to be $700 a session and they want to do one session every two weeks for for five weeks so Jay's like again it was a short conversation Richard he's like we got your back he said go ahead and get started and so we started chemo that day and we started doing it like like I said every two weeks but that so that's when I really started to peel the curtain back a little bit on social media and my goal on that initially was to really show that hey when these retire dogs when they retire from service their story doesn't end 

Rich Bennett 36:43
but 

Chris Bingham 36:43
and they still have a purpose and I 

Rich Bennett 36:45
wanted to 

Chris Bingham 36:45
show that some of the challenges that they go through in retirement and also shed light on the organizations like Project K9 Hero 

effort and or that we need to get legislation passed to get these dogs some care yes in in in retirement which is something that Jason is trying to do so what I started doing is documenting our chemo sessions and I didn't want to make it all gloom and doom when I when I 

Rich Bennett 37:09
key 

Chris Bingham 37:09
took them for 

Rich Bennett 37:10
reasons awareness 

Chris Bingham 37:10
Yeah, 

Rich Bennett 37:10
though 

Chris Bingham 37:11
so what I did is I tried to make it fun on art and I tell you, driving into Malvern was an hour and 20 minutes and Tambo loved being in the car from working and that was our time together. 

Rich Bennett 37:22
yeah 

Chris Bingham 37:22
So I started doing like different themes and one of the first ones I did was kind of like, you know, I was kind of an ice cube theme. I put some sunglasses on them and I played that song. Yeah, today was a good day. And then the second theme I did was John Cena. And you know, I ordered it. order to Tango and I never give up T-shirts and I had the tap. 

Rich Bennett 37:44
Nice. 

Chris Bingham 37:44
And then I had my mom open the door and Tango came out to John Cena's team music and it was really funny and it got a great response and then I finally did a Rocky one because I've always related to the Rocky 

Rich Bennett 37:57
Yeah. 

Chris Bingham 37:57
movies. There was my favorite movies growing up, The Underdog. And I said, this is perfect for Tango because we're going into right outside of Philly to get the chemo done and you know, Tango's the underdog that's beating the odds. And I put him, I got him a Rocky costume off Amazon and he had boxing gloves and he came out. 

Rich Bennett 38:17
I saw that. 

Chris Bingham 38:18
Yeah. Yeah. To the, to the, to the never no easy way out. Yeah. I was like, I had a tiger. I said that's great. But yeah. 

Rich Bennett 38:26
Yeah. 

Chris Bingham 38:26
So no easy way out. So we came out to that and we started getting this, this huge, this huge following 

Rich Bennett 38:32
Yeah. 

Chris Bingham 38:33
and it wasn't just handlers anymore. What was happening was something cool. It was people that were going through cancer. Started reaching out to me and saying, Hey, my dad has stage four pancreatic cancer. It's not good. But he wanted to stop, stop treatment and, but he sees Tango fighting and he sees that Tango gets up every day and chooses life 

Rich Bennett 38:56
Mm-hmm. 

Chris Bingham 38:57
and chooses happiness. And I started thinking about that, Rich, like the simplicity of how dogs live their life in general. And especially Tango, like this dog has been through so much and has a terminal cancer. But he's just happy to get up and eat his breakfast every day. He's 

Rich Bennett 39:13
still at five o'clock. 

Chris Bingham 39:14
yes. Still at five. Yeah. Happy to go into car. And then something deeper happened. Parents started reaching out to me and saying, my child has cancer. 

Rich Bennett 39:25
Oh, 

Chris Bingham 39:27
And seeing Tambo, they enjoy seeing Tambo's pictures and it gives them light in a dark time. And that really hit me. And then being a dad too and understanding fear and worry that a parent goes through 

Rich Bennett 39:44
the 

Chris Bingham 39:45
really started to resonate with me. So I really started documenting everything. And then just, you know, we started doing some WMAR came out to the house. And they did a say our sire Williams came the voice of the veterans came out and did a story at the house, which was great. And that opened up a lot of other opportunities in August. The Orioles honored us at at Bark at the Night. And they brought Tambo and I up on the left field perch in the third inning and honored him for his work. 

Rich Bennett 40:15
And his wow 

Chris Bingham 40:16
his cancer battle, which was great. Because again, going back to a story with my dad, then I haven't told this story before this. So you'll be the first one I've told. My dad had got me tickets for Ripkins 21 31 game when I was 18 years old. And I thought about this great bonding moment to have with my dad. And my dad never up. 

Rich Bennett 40:38
Oh, 

Chris Bingham 40:38
And 

Rich Bennett 40:38
man. 

Chris Bingham 40:39
I remember sitting there with my world. Not I'm not trying to make anyone sad, and so, but I'm sitting there with my oral, oral jersey on and waiting for my dad to show up. And he never did. And he was just going through his own demons and trials and tribulations in life. But it broke my heart. And so fast forward, I ended up going to the game with my future stepfather, which was still a nice moment. But you know, I wanted to share that moment with my dad, but fast forward now 20 some years later. I'm at this moment and I'm up there on the big screen getting interviewed with Tambo. And I look over and I see my son looking at me. And I kind of healed me from that moment to have my son with me and to have that moment with him that I didn't get with my dad. 

Rich Bennett 41:27
Wow. 

Chris Bingham 41:28
And that was kind of a full circle healing. I've never talked about that before. This is the first any of you I brought that up in. 

So, so that was a great moment and then the the Eagles reached out and it was pretty amazing. They said, hey, we heard about Tim Bo's story and how would you you and Project K9 here like to be honored on one Sunday night football for our salute service game against Alliance and I said that would be amazing. So they had us out there. Jason from Project K9 here had the team from Project K9 here came out. We got an Airbnb and Jay and I the day of the game we we kind of both had the same the same idea is like let's go run the Rocky stairs. 

Rich Bennett 42:11
I was going to ask you guys did that 

Chris Bingham 42:13
and I was like oh my gosh. So we pull up we tried to get there early and at first I was annoyed. I was like man there's so many people here it's crowded but then I took a step back which I wait I mean this is amazing because everybody on those steps is fighting 

Rich Bennett 42:28
something. Yeah. 

Chris Bingham 42:29
They're they're celebrating a battle that they beat and I got this sense it's give me goose bumps now but I got this this sense of pride and we got out and 

Rich Bennett 42:40
you had Tampa 

Chris Bingham 42:40
I 

Rich Bennett 42:40
with you. 

Chris Bingham 42:41
had Tampa with okay 

Rich Bennett 42:42
good 

Chris Bingham 42:42
and and I was like all right I said that's funny part I said I'm going to run up with Tampa and I got to run up like Rocky and then I had it I had some clarity. I said all right I'm in I'm in my 40s and Tampa was 11 with cancer this probably won't end well if we both run off the stairs I said well that's we'll do a light jog. So we did a light jog up and we got we got pictures in front of the Rocky statue which was so symbolic because and and you know it's funny as we were doing as I was preparing Tampa for the game because in a rewind a little bit is I'm a firm believer with cancer it's not just okay let's go get chemo therapy 

Rich Bennett 43:27
oh 

Chris Bingham 43:27
you attack it from from every angle and that's what I said is I'm going to give Tampa the best chance possible so I had holistic approaches I had companies reach out to me that that funded his diet and nutrition and 

Rich Bennett 43:40
wow 

Chris Bingham 43:41
and then I did the keep his joints good I went back to Dr. Dykis and we did a whole rehab and I did hydrotherapy with him 

Rich Bennett 43:51
really 

Chris Bingham 43:51
yeah every week and in the underwater treadmill we did stretches and he got medical massages but what I started correlating as because I was telling him I had this game coming up I because I looked at it because every time I took Tango to his his chemo treatment he got so dependent on me that he wouldn't go to the back without me so I kind of correlated is that I'm Mickey or Apollo and I'm 

Rich Bennett 44:18
walking 

Chris Bingham 44:18
Rocky back right and I'd walk him back to the the double doors and he'd go behind him into his fight and then we'd come back out and as we were doing the the the hydrotherapy and the training leading 

Rich Bennett 44:29
game. 

Chris Bingham 44:29
up to the It's like the Rocky the training sessions before the big fight 

Rich Bennett 44:33
yeah 

Chris Bingham 44:34
and they would play I the Tiger and we got a custom we got a custom the Eagles Jersey made for for Tango um so we did the we did the stairs and we got the picture and then they brought us out in the uh the first quarter and they talked about Tango's service first his all his injuries and then they said now he's fighting the biggest battle of his life um given just two weeks to live and you know Philly fans can be tough on people but we got a standing ovation from 70,000 people 

Rich Bennett 45:05
oh wow 

Chris Bingham 45:05
and that was a full circle moment for me is that man me underdog Tango the underdog we're in Philly where where where Rocky was born we just ran the Rocky Stairs and they ended it by saying a Philadelphia fighter true and true true and true and uh we got this this standing ovation and they get I still get goose bumps you know um 

Rich Bennett 45:28
and you had to be tyrannical 

Chris Bingham 45:29
I was and I was like man this is this is this is a full circle moment 

Rich Bennett 45:34
yeah 

Chris Bingham 45:35
and uh 

Rich Bennett 45:35
God 

Chris Bingham 45:36
for especially for a dog that you know and and a guy that 

Rich Bennett 45:40
yeah 

Chris Bingham 45:41
point in life people wanted to give up on us right and um so got back was was on a high and then I got um um a call from my dad and again been in and out of my life and found out my dad has cancer and my dad was uh fighting non-Hodgkin's lymphoma uh supposed to make a full recovery started started his chemo and the cool thing was a rich as him and I have never really been able to find common ground but it was no similar it similar to what everybody else was finding common ground with that had cancer he was connecting with me through Tango 

Rich Bennett 46:18
but yeah 

Chris Bingham 46:19
And he couldn't open up but he would always start the conversation with House TAMBO's doing. 

Rich Bennett 46:23
mm-hmm 

Chris Bingham 46:23
House is fight doing. When am I getting one of TAMBO's T-shirts? And so, and I'm actually wearing the shirt that I gave 

Rich Bennett 46:35
to 

Chris Bingham 46:36
my dad right now, so I don't get too emotional. But anyway, we reconnected. I got to take my son out to see him and watching him with my son was in a way at healed him. And he didn't get me because I got to see my dad be affectionate with my son and get the things that I didn't 

Rich Bennett 46:53
get. It 

Chris Bingham 46:54
was like the little me being healed inside. And I thought we were going to have more time. And my dad had a stroke while he was on the chemo and had some cognitive issues. And they said it wasn't going to be good for him to continue to go through chemo. So he went into hospice. 

It was tough, and I was able to get, but I was able to get my final closure with him. And for the first time he told me that he was proud of me and 

Rich Bennett 47:24
I 

Chris Bingham 47:25
told him that regardless of what happened that he was still my hero. And that I forgave him. And, you know, it's tough to say that, you know, he passed away last week, so. And that's why I'm wearing his shirt. They dropped some of these things off 

Rich Bennett 47:44
want 

Chris Bingham 47:44
to 

Rich Bennett 47:44
to 

Chris Bingham 47:44
me. So 

Rich Bennett 47:44
see it. Plus 

Chris Bingham 47:44
I 

Rich Bennett 47:44
he was able to meet his grandson. 

Chris Bingham 47:46
He was able to meet his grandson. And the last thing he said to me is that is to take take care of my grandson and to give him what you and I didn't have. So, and I can thank TAMBO for bringing us together. And, you know, one thing him and I agreed on is that we were going to the cycle was going to be broken starting with my son, Mackie. 

Rich Bennett 48:09
Yeah. 

Chris Bingham 48:10
You know, because his dad did had the same thing with him. And, you know, I didn't get that. He didn't get that. But it doesn't mean that that has to that has to continue. So it's been a, it's been a heavy week. And then, you know, another tough part is I had TAMBO's oncology appointment on Monday. And for the first time they did, they did see some changes on his liver and kidney. I'm remaining hopeful. It's possible that the cancer could could be back. I have to wait three weeks before I go back and get his But, 

Rich Bennett 48:45
yeah, 

Chris Bingham 48:45
the, the reality of his, his riches is that this dog wasn't, wasn't supposed to make it past that day that I found him. And that was in July of 2025. And he's, he's beating the odds. He's defying the 

Rich Bennett 48:58
Ganesh, 

Chris Bingham 48:58
odds. And what I told the oncologist, I, I texted her today. I said, so I'm not, I'm not giving up. And I'm 

Rich Bennett 49:05
yeah, 

Chris Bingham 49:05
not, I could sit here and sulk, but everything I've told everybody else and what I've reached is to never give up and continue to have hope. And what I've said in every interview is people say that sometimes hope is this myth, mythical thing, but it's not. It's, 

Rich Bennett 49:18
it's not. 

Chris Bingham 49:18
it's real. And when you have hope, beautiful things can happen. And, so 

Rich Bennett 49:25
everybody's brought together. 

Chris Bingham 49:26
Yeah, and, and nothing, nothing's, nothing's changing for us. We're, we're continuing to, to, to push forward. And I'm proud to say that, um, you know, Tango inspired me to do a children's book. And it, it just got published, um, about a week and a half ago. And it's called, um, K nine, Tango, I left it simple because I'm gonna do a whole series on it. 

Rich Bennett 49:50
Good, 

Chris Bingham 49:52
good. And, and the theory behind it was, and, and I was talking to you before we recorded, is that, you know, I kind of grew up as a child that, um, felt unseen, um, And, and different, and that, um, also with the, the kids that, that, that feel different around seeing, or don't have a parent around or are going through an illness. So the, the story of the book is it's about Tango, but it's an away for a child to understand that, he gets sick, but he gets better with medicine. 

Rich Bennett 50:20
yeah. 

Chris Bingham 50:20
And along the way, he teaches children to, uh, not be scared. And, and to, to realize that it's okay to be different, and that there's, there's always hope and to continue to have, have faith in a way that a child can understand. I won't spoil the book, but in the back of the book, you know, there's a resource for, for parents and teachers to, to go over the book and, and, and with what the, what they learned from, from reading it and some, some tips from it. And then there's like a little thing about the real K nine Tango in the back, and it's got, you know, a couple, a couple of pictures of them. So it's, um, you can get it on Amazon or, or, or Barnes and Noble, um, just look up K nine Tango, it's, it's available. 

Rich Bennett 51:01
I'll measure I had the link in the 

Chris Bingham 51:03
sooner. Yeah. And I already have a bunch of, um, uh, book signings set up through Barnes and Noble that I'm going to be 

Rich Bennett 51:10
good. 

Chris Bingham 51:10
for, for, for kids and um, they had asked me the, uh, the white marsh barns a noble to possibly come out and I told them I would I said, you know, everything if I bring Tango that'll just be dependent on his health but 

Rich Bennett 51:22
right. 

So I thought about even going to, like, daycares to read, 

Chris Bingham 51:40
Yeah, one, one of the big things and this, this is the promise that I made when I wrote it is as I'm going to take a hundred copies and donate it to the, um, to a children's cancer hospital 

Rich Bennett 51:50
none. 

Chris Bingham 51:50
um, and I'm going to get a hundred stuffed uh, like, um, well, a lot of time but like, plushies that I'm going to give to with the kids because for me it's, it's, it's not about, it's not about notoriety for me, it's not about making money, the proceeds that that I do make off the book I'm giving back to 

Rich Bennett 52:07
yeah, Project 

Chris Bingham 52:08
K9 here toward, uh, Tambos Care which I'm proud to say they've now funded over 35,000 into his, uh, care since he's he retired. So if anyone's looking for charity and, and you always wonder, hey, I'm given to this charity and I want to know where if my money's really going to it. Tango is proof that that his care is hundred percent and funded by Project K9 hero as every other hero, four-legged hero in that program has. So Project K9 hero is on all social media platforms under Project K9 hero or at their website at, um, you know, Project K9 hero, um, dot org and then I also have a, um, an adult book that'll be coming out. It's, it's the, the memoir of, of Tambos, but it's also in my story and it goes deeper into kind of like a little bit about everything that we talked about and it's, it's not just a story about a dog, it's a story of redemption, it's a story of hope, it's a story of underdogs, it's a story of loss, and it's a story of a father and son and, um, it's, it's, it's going to be amazing and that will be out. Um, sometime, sometime this year, and again, the, the, the end goal is to, is to get this to film. 

Rich Bennett 53:23
I mean, you're going to have to come on my other podcast for that one, which I'll tell you about that one. Bad, that is amazing. I, I cannot wait to meet Tango. 

Chris Bingham 53:35
He's an amazing, 

Rich Bennett 53:37
I know I'm going to, 

Chris Bingham 53:38
yep. And 

Rich Bennett 53:38
whether it's this year, next year or five years from now because he's a fighter, he can give it up. I mean, damn, that God, do you have a website for him yet? 

Chris Bingham 53:52
So I'm, I'm in the process of, of setting up his, his website now. I haven't, 

Rich Bennett 53:56
I was going to say he's going to be pissed if you, if he don't have his own website, 

Chris Bingham 53:59
I haven't, 

Rich Bennett 53:59
all this fame, he's getting 

Chris Bingham 54:01
I haven't gone, gone live with it yet. We, we've also done some apparel. We did it through, um, how bound brewing. You can find them on inst, Instagram, 

Rich Bennett 54:10
bound brewing. 

Chris Bingham 54:11
yeah, there, there a company out of Houston. We, we, we connected on, on social media and they've done a, a series of, of TAMBO shirts. And, um, the, the theme that I've really leaned into with, with TAMBO is defy the odds. And, uh, so we have, the, the most recent one we did, it, it's TAMBO with the capital building behind them with his paw on a explosive device. And it says cancer warrior, um, at the bottom. And then the one we did before that was a TAMBO strong shirt. And then this one, um, is through news, the one I'm wearing now is through a new south trading company. And that's TAMBO's original shirt and, um, it's a picture of TAMBO on the back with the project came on here logo on the front. And it's got TAMBO on the back and it has, um, him with his paw on an explosive. And it says initial success or total failure, which is what we, the slogan that we used, 

Rich Bennett 55:03
we're 

Chris Bingham 55:04
working. So, 

Rich Bennett 55:06
right. So TAMBO has got his own coffee. 

Chris Bingham 55:08
yeah. 

Rich Bennett 55:09
He's got his own shirts. He's got his own book. 

Chris Bingham 55:12
All 

Rich Bennett 55:12
He's going to have his own website. Is he got his own beer bourbon yet? 

Chris Bingham 55:17
That. Well, 

Rich Bennett 55:19
got to. Oh, come on 

Chris Bingham 55:20
I've 

Rich Bennett 55:20
now, Chris. 

Chris Bingham 55:22
No, he does. I can't talk specifically where I work at, but he, he did have his own bourbon made, um, 

Rich Bennett 55:30
come on. 

Chris Bingham 55:30
so I, I, I have a bottle of it at home. That's that city. It was a, it was a select number that was only made, but 

Rich Bennett 55:36
Oh, 

Chris Bingham 55:37
there's one sitting on my shelf at home that, that I have with. 

Rich Bennett 55:40
Oh, so you can't get anymore. 

Chris Bingham 55:42
No, but I, I may have a couple, I'm one extra laying around. I might be able to hook you 

Rich Bennett 55:47
I 

Chris Bingham 55:47
out. 

Rich Bennett 55:48
will buy 

Chris Bingham 55:50
you. 

Rich Bennett 55:50
Yeah, I love a good bourbon. 

Chris Bingham 55:52
But, but beer, man, that may, that may, that may be next. Well, we'll, we'll see. 

Rich Bennett 55:57
God knows we got enough breweries around here. I'm surprised nobody's jumped on that yet although god. What kind of flavors would you throw in there? 

Chris Bingham 56:05
We did 

Rich Bennett 56:06
What's I be what's What is Tambos favorite thing the because you know some dogs just like human food 

Chris Bingham 56:12
Yeah, his favorite. I mean, it's it's cliche-ish, but it's steak. He loves He loves like a nice piece of like steak and when I'm eating one You know obviously 

Rich Bennett 56:23
Good. 

Chris Bingham 56:23
he gets he gets that but but he loves it. He loves anything with like you know peanut butter in it too 

Rich Bennett 56:29
So he Well there are peanut butter beers out there. 

Chris Bingham 56:31
Yeah, yeah, so that that that may be a 

Rich Bennett 56:34
peanut butter I know you don't want to put barbecue sauce 

Chris Bingham 56:39
Peanut 

Rich Bennett 56:41
butter SPG beer 

Chris Bingham 56:44
So the 

Rich Bennett 56:45
butter salt pepper and garlic 

Chris Bingham 56:47
So I know it's a local bus so there's any breweries out there that want to Want to when I help us out and come up with a theme beer for Tambo. We're we're open ears 

Rich Bennett 56:55
Yeah, that could be pretty interesting Damn, so before I get to my last question because I got there's a ton of questions I really have free, but I don't you gotta come back on because I Won't you I know we'd have to do it virtually and I know you can do stuff 

Chris Bingham 57:12
Yeah 

Rich Bennett 57:12
virtually. I'm gonna get pro jacat 9 hero on 

Chris Bingham 57:15
yeah, we could do that 

Rich Bennett 57:16
and talk to them because that's I'm big on non-profits whether low or you but especially the ones where they're transparent and you see where it's going And you see it with pro jacat 9 hero, so I love that but is there anything you like that? I get to my last question 

Chris Bingham 57:31
No, the main thing is is I want people to to realize that regardless of of what you're going through in life that There's always light right and there's this picture. I look at it. It's a very simple one It's kind of like a it's a cartoon, but it's a guy. He's on a train and one side of the window is very dark and gloomy and the other side is very Sunny and what I really and no caption to it, but I relate to that is in life in general How you view life is deciding what side you 

Rich Bennett 58:02
Yeah 

Chris Bingham 58:02
sit on? And so I could say man like my dad passed away last week. Tambos cancer may be back But what I'm looking at is I've gotten so much more time with tambos I've got but it was able to reconnect with my dad. I was able to get I was able to get you know closure 

Rich Bennett 58:19
Mm-hmm 

Chris Bingham 58:20
with my dad so 

Those those things are Amazing in general I was I was we were able to inspire other people so I think in life in general when you're you're going through something You just got to continue to have that positivity to You 

Rich Bennett 58:35
Yeah 

Chris Bingham 58:35
threw it I 

Rich Bennett 58:36
Before I get to my last question How do people get in touch with you especially be you know kids of battling cancer if they want to see tambos in you? 

Chris Bingham 58:47
Yes, so um instagram I I did try to create a tick-tock, but I haven't really figured out how to work 

Rich Bennett 58:54
So 

Chris Bingham 58:54
I don't have uh but instagram mainly right now and and if you you can find me on there at lowercase k the number nine underscore Tambos t-a-m-b-o and then if anyone wants to email me it's k9 tambos k and t-a-m-b-o the number 2 at gmail.com 

Rich Bennett 59:15
So so vester still learn and john cina if you're hearing does you know how 

Chris Bingham 59:19
touch? 

Rich Bennett 59:19
to get in 

Chris Bingham 59:21
That's right 

Rich Bennett 59:23
You can see so pick a number between Now let me let me tell you about these questions first of all. So I got a hundred different questions 

Chris Bingham 59:30
Okay, 

Rich Bennett 59:30
here I want to say probably 90% of the time whatever number the guess picks. somehow another aligns with what we've been talking about So I want to see if this works the pick a number between one and five 

Chris Bingham 59:43
one and five. Okay, we'll go with three All 

Rich Bennett 59:48
right now pick a number between 41 

Oh, you know, okay, yeah, I have a funny feeling this is going to so I got these broken down in five 

Chris Bingham 59:56
blocks 

Rich Bennett 59:56
different 

Chris Bingham 59:57
Okay, 

Rich Bennett 59:58
block three which you picked is values, purpose and definitions of life So pick a number between 41 and 60 41 

Chris Bingham 1:00:07
and 6 

51 51 

Rich Bennett 1:00:17
What's a simple pleasure in life that you believe is often overlocked present 

Chris Bingham 1:00:28
Living living in the present and that's that's that's the biggest thing that 

Rich Bennett 1:00:35
know times 

Chris Bingham 1:00:35
you 

Before his diagnosis and in times where you know have a stressful day at work and I come home and I get caught up in Oh, man, this this happened at work. I'm dealing with this or I start just scrolling Line and I'm not present 

Rich Bennett 1:00:51
Mm-hmm. 

Chris Bingham 1:00:52
I look down to my son saying, 'Daddy, daddy'. The stuff that I longed for when I was a child, you know, and um, and or having, Tambo, right, right there with me, and what he's taught me is to, is to live in the present, right? 

Rich Bennett 1:01:10
And yeah, 

Chris Bingham 1:01:10
And live, live day by day, and enjoy the, the little things in life, right? Like, I mean, look at, look at him. Yeah, I get my breakfast at 5 a. m., I'm super, I'm super excited, or I get to go on a car ride with, with dad. And, you know, I talk about in the book, is we have our, we have our own songs, I told you I have my, 

Rich Bennett 1:01:30
yeah. 

Chris Bingham 1:01:30
I built my own soundtrack, if you want me to play it, um, the one of the songs. But like, with, with Tambo, we, we listen to two Pock and, and Biggie, that we are, our 90s, and, and that was our thing, right? And, and, and just, just having those moments together, and, and living in the present. There's nothing 

Rich Bennett 1:01:49
better. Man, that is awesome. Now, you do realize when you get home, as warm as it is today, for those of you listening, we're recording this on April 1st, I have a funny feeling, because Tambo is home right 

Chris Bingham 1:02:00
now. Yep, he's home. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:02
He's going to be sitting at, sitting in the backyard next to George. Colin and chillin man, I can see it now. 

Chris Bingham 1:02:10
Yeah, exactly. 

Rich Bennett 1:02:12
Man, Chris, thanks a lot 

Chris Bingham 1:02:15
Thank 

Rich Bennett 1:02:15
brother. 

Chris Bingham 1:02:15
you so

Rich Bennett 1:02:16
much. wow, what a powerful conversation this one has been. You know, Chris' story and tambos' journey, they remind us that strength doesn't always look the way we expect it. Sometimes strength is showing up one more day, fighting one more battle, loving through pain, and refusing to give up even when the odds say you should. From serving in law enforcement to building an unbreakable bond with a dog that many people struggled to connect with, to finding healing through fatherhood, forgiveness, and purpose. This episode was about so much more than a retired police canine. It was about hope. And honestly, I think that's why so many people connect with tambos' story. Because whether you're battling illness, grief, loss, trauma, or just trying to get through another difficult season of life, we all need reminders that they're still late ahead. I want to thank Chris for being open, being vulnerable, and willing to share not only tambos' fight, but his own. And I also want to encourage all of you listening to Checkout Project K9 hero and learn more about the incredible work they're doing to help retire police and military working dogs get the care they deserve after years of service. Also, be sure to follow K9 tambos' journey online. Support the book and keep cheering this warrior on. I also have links in the show notes for the book, A Plush Tambeau and some other surprises. I remember this, sometimes the heroes who change our lives don't say a word. They just stay beside us when we need them most. Until next time, this is Rich Bennett reminding you to stay positive, keep moving forward, never stop defying the odd, and keep the conversation going.