Military Service Dog Still Patrols at Home

FETCH 'EM HOME
From Afghanistan to Anniston, military dogs get retirement fit for a hero
Anniston Star
August 30, 2014

Bill Wilson Anniston Star

When Kyle Cruse takes his German shepherd, Drako, for a walk around Oxford Lake, he has to be quick snapping on the leash. Otherwise, the shaggy, doe-eyed dog begins to methodically inspect each car in the parking lot.

“He thinks he has to sniff all the cars for bombs,” explained Cruse.

Playing in the creek or chasing his ball around the park, Drako might be mistaken for just another family pet. But this pet was trained in explosives detection and deployed to Afghanistan to work under contract for the U.S. military.

Cruse adopted him from Piper’s Rescue in March, one month after the retired working dog returned home, along with 91 of his four-legged co-workers, in an unprecedented mass transport that ended right here in Anniston.

Watching Drako’s transition from working dog to pet has been a joy for the first-time “dog father,” as Cruse calls himself. “When I first got him home, he wouldn’t come out of his kennel,” he said. “But once he understood I was the one taking care of him, he knew he was home.”
read more here

War dogs look for love after tours of duty
WTOP News
Randi Martin
August 30, 2014

WASHINGTON -- After their tour of duty ends and their military lives are over, some war dogs are just looking for love.

"These are working dogs," says Kristen Mauer, president of Mission K9 Rescue. "But some of them come home and they just want to retire. They‘re love bugs and just want to lie on the couch."

Mauer, whose organization works to find homes for military and contractor war dogs, says many families want to adopt these dogs.

"There (are) a lot of people out there that really love what these dogs have done and love what they stand for."

Many, Mauer says, feel that these dogs deserve a wonderful retirement.

The military dogs are owned by the Department of Defense. When their tour of duty is over and they are retired, the DoD offers the dogs to their handlers. Since the relationship is so strong, most are soon adopted and become members of the family.
read more here