SEAL Team Ten Canine Handler Chris Cappa Part Two

About this video

Chris Cappa, a former SEAL Team 10 canine handler, recounts his deployment to Iraq with his dog Mickey after replacing a handler and dog killed in action. Cappa describes earning the trust of a new platoon, their training regimen in austere conditions, and Mickey’s successful performance on their first mission finding a bomb maker and an insurgent hiding in a house. The deployment was cut short when administrative issues in-country significantly reduced their operational tempo.

Key takeaways

• Cappa emphasizes that handlers must maintain SEAL standards in shooting, moving, and communicating despite working with a 60-pound dog, and believes inability stems from lack of proper training to that standard
• Cappa recounts Mickey’s exceptional performance on their first mission, maintaining focus on explosive detection despite distractions including an attacking dog, then successfully locating a hiding insurgent and delivering a bite
• Cappa discusses the importance of purposeful bite targeting in training, noting it gives dogs focus in chaotic environments and prevents wrong targets from being engaged, though he acknowledges his unit’s limitation in not cross-training with other entities

Episode details: published February 12, 2024 · 33.9K views · 1:32:46 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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