Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Bingham.
Hi Chris , thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story with Tambo really began long before either of us knew how much we would end up needing each other.
I spent much of my career in law enforcement and K9 operations, eventually serving as a K9 commander and later moving into leadership roles. Over the years, I worked with several incredible dogs and saw firsthand what these animals are capable of. They serve beside us, protect people they will never meet, and ask for very little in return.
Tambo came into my life as a working dog and quickly became much more than that. He spent years serving alongside me in some very demanding environments, including major events, high-security assignments, and thousands of detection searches. He was reliable, driven, and the kind of dog you trusted completely when the stakes were high.
But some of the most important things Tambo did for me had nothing to do with police work.
One of the biggest was helping reconnect me with my father before he passed away from cancer.
My father and I had a complicated relationship, and for a long time there was distance between us. As his health declined, Tambo became one of the bridges that helped bring us back together. Through that time, I was able to reconnect with my dad, spend meaningful time with him, and find a sense of closure I honestly never knew I would have.
That is something I will always credit Tambo with.
He has this way of bringing people together without ever trying.
When Tambo retired, I thought the hardest part of his life was behind him. I wanted him to finally enjoy being a dog.
Instead, retirement brought a completely different battle.
In July 2025, Tambo was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma after a mass on his spleen ruptured. He needed emergency surgery and a blood transfusion, and from that moment forward, everything changed. What followed was chemotherapy, scans, medications, setbacks, good days, difficult days, and a lot of uncertainty.
But Tambo kept showing up.
That resilience became the heart of his story.
What started as me simply sharing updates about a dog I loved grew into something much bigger. People from all over began following his journey, supporting him, sharing their own stories, and finding strength in the way he continued to face every challenge in front of him.
Project K9 Hero also stepped in and has played an enormous role in Tambo’s journey, helping support his medical care and allowing us to focus on giving him the best quality of life possible.
Since then, Tambo’s story has reached far beyond anything I ever imagined. He has been recognized at major sporting events, appeared in media across the country, inspired books, fundraisers, merchandise collaborations, and even conversations about bringing his story to film.
But for me, none of that is really what this is about.
At the center of everything is still just Tambo and me.
A handler and his dog who became family.
His story is about service, loyalty, resilience, forgiveness, and what it means to keep going when life gives you every reason not to. Tambo served others for years, helped bring my father and me back together before it was too late, and now continues to teach me what strength looks like in the middle of his own battle.
I feel like it is my responsibility now to show up for him the same way he has always shown up for me.
That has become the message behind everything we do: one more round.
Not because you know how the story ends, but because as long as you still have something left to give, you keep going.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It definitely has not been a smooth road.
There have been a lot of highs, but also some incredibly difficult chapters along the way. I have spent much of my life in law enforcement and leadership, where you are expected to stay composed, solve problems, and keep moving forward. But some of the hardest things I have faced have been the ones I could not control.
I lost my father to cancer after we had finally reconnected and repaired our relationship. That experience changed me deeply. I am incredibly grateful we found our way back to each other before it was too late, and Tambo played a major role in helping make that happen.
Then came Tambo’s own health battles.
After retiring from service, he dealt with serious orthopedic issues, surgeries, rehabilitation, and eventually cancer. In July 2025, a mass on his spleen ruptured and he was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma. Since then, his life has included emergency surgery, chemotherapy, repeated scans, medication changes, setbacks, and the constant uncertainty that comes with such an aggressive disease.
There have been moments where the news was encouraging and others where everything seemed to change overnight.
That uncertainty has probably been the hardest part.
You learn very quickly that you cannot live too far ahead. You appreciate the good days more. You celebrate the small victories. A good meal, a car ride, a walk, a moment where he is simply happy and acting like himself can mean everything.
There have also been personal challenges along the way, balancing family, work, Tambo’s care, and my own physical recovery after knee replacement surgery. At times, it has felt like a lot happening all at once.
But those struggles are also what shaped the message behind Tambo’s story.
For us, “One More Round” is not about pretending everything is going to be okay. It is about continuing to show up even when you do not know what comes next.
That is probably the biggest lesson Tambo has taught me: resilience is not always about winning. Sometimes it is simply about having the courage to keep going.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My professional background is in law enforcement, leadership, and K9 operations. I have spent more than two decades in law enforcement and many years working directly in the K9 world, including serving as a K9 commander and later moving into senior leadership roles.
A large part of my career has involved high-pressure environments where preparation, trust, and decision-making matter. Through K9 operations, I have worked around thousands of detection searches, hundreds of deployment calls, major events, high-security assignments, and situations where there was very little margin for error.
What I am probably best known for today, though, is Tambo.
What started as sharing the story of a retired working dog has grown into something much bigger. Tambo’s journey has allowed me to advocate for retired working dogs, support organizations like Project K9 Hero, raise awareness about the medical challenges these dogs can face after service, and connect with people who see their own struggles reflected in his resilience.
I have also become increasingly focused on storytelling. Through social media, speaking opportunities, books, fundraising events, media appearances, and now conversations surrounding film, I have tried to take Tambo’s story and use it for something positive.
What I am most proud of is not any single title, award, or accomplishment.
I am proud of the impact.
I am proud that Tambo’s story has helped raise awareness and money for retired working dogs. I am proud when someone tells me that watching him keep going helped them through something difficult in their own life. I am proud that a dog who spent years quietly serving others now has a platform that can help the dogs coming behind him.
What sets us apart is probably the authenticity of it.
I am not trying to manufacture a story or create a perfect image. People have seen the victories, but they have also seen the fear, setbacks, uncertainty, cancer treatments, recovery, and difficult days. I think people connect with Tambo because his story is real.
At the heart of everything I do now is a simple idea: use the platform we have been given to do some good, honor the dogs that served before us, and keep showing up for one more round.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
The most important lesson I have learned is that you cannot wait for life to become easy before you start appreciating it.
For a long time, I think I was always focused on the next responsibility, the next problem, or the next thing that needed to be handled. Between work, family, loss, and everything that came with Tambo’s health, I learned how quickly life can change.
Tambo has probably taught me that lesson more than anyone.
Watching him go through everything he has faced has forced me to slow down and appreciate the moments that would have once seemed small. A car ride. A good meal. Sitting together at home. Seeing him happy for a few minutes. Those moments carry a completely different weight now.
I also learned how important it is to say what needs to be said while you still have the chance. Reconnecting with my father before he passed away taught me that. I am incredibly grateful that we found our way back to each other, and I do not take that kind of time for granted anymore.
The biggest lesson has really been to stay present.
You are not always going to know what comes next, and you cannot control every outcome. But you can control whether you show up, whether you love people well, and whether you make the most of the time you are given.
That is what “One More Round” has come to mean to me.
Keep showing up. Keep loving. Keep living while you still have the chance.
Pricing:
- https://www.americanhumane.org/hero-dog/tambo/
- https://preview.mailerlite.io/forms/2237427/196239983967733229/share
- https://a.co/d/0dL7TZVh
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.americanhumane.org/hero-dog/tambo/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/k9_tambo
- Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ethanlive/id1879790923
- Twitter: https://preview.mailerlite.io/forms/2237427/196239983967733229/share
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/Cm5BtOxcfoM
- Yelp: www.tiktok.com/@k9tambo
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6otWnJIKlWD19sr6bCibml
- Other: https://a.co/d/0dL7TZVh
