WASHINGTON – A local man penned a song for dogs and it’s helping veterans in need.
Brendan Biondi, of Ellicott City, Md., and his girlfriend volunteered to train a Hero Dog, which will eventually be paired with a disabled or injured vet.
“What hero dogs does, is they raise, train and place service dogs with disabled or injured veterans,” Biondi said. “So we joined up with them and we have been raising our puppy, Calvin, for a little over a year now.”
Biondi had never had a dog, and the experience of being with Calvin every day had a major impact on him.
“A couple months into raising him, it just blew me away,” he said. “It’s an overwhelming experience. You spend every single day with the dog. This unspeakable bond just kind of happened and it blew me away.”
First he was inspired to write a poem from the dog’s perspective, then he thought it would be fun to write a song, titled “Song My Dog Wrote” and make a music video.
The upbeat tune is written from the dog’s perspective and includes lyrics like, “We’re going to run and play and seize the day,” and, “I”m gonna wag my tail, gonna dig a bunch of holes.”
He put the video on YouTube on May 7 and now that he is getting calls from the press, the views are going up.
Hopefully those YouTube views will translate to iTunes sales. He’s posted the single of the song on the website and says he’s giving half the proceeds to Hero Dogs so they can train more dogs. It costs about $30,000 to train each dog that will eventually be put with a veteran in need.
As for how Calvin is dealing with all the calls from the press, Biondi says, “Calvin’s excellent. He’s actually at my feet right now chewing on a Nylabone.”
The song is available on iTunes and 50 percent of the proceeds go to Hero Dogs.
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WTOP’s Michelle Murillo contributed to this report. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and on Facebook.
