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“My Hero, My Friend,” a tribute to military working dogs sculptor Susan Norris. (Photo by Susan Norris)
Posted on 03/03/2020 7:35:02 AM PST by COBOL2Java
“My Hero, My Friend,” a tribute to military working dogs sculptor Susan Norris. (Photo by Susan Norris)
Titled “My Hero, My Friend,” Norris’ newest statue is a life-size bronze sculpture of a military working dog wearing a Purple Heart, mourning the loss of its two-legged companion.
“I’ve always had an affection for animals, but the bond between a military dog and its partner is on a whole other level,” Norris said in a press release.
This sculpture is meant to honor the bravery and dedication of a military service dog to its human handler, tugging at the heartstrings of passersby. The sculpture will reside at Veterans Memorial Park in Trophy Club, Texas, inside the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.
“It’s moving to see people cry when they see my sculpture,” Norris added of the reactions to the sculture.
Military working dogs have gone by all manner of moniker throughout U.S. military history, including K-9 Corps and “war dogs.” In various combat eras, they served as guards, messengers, mascots and scouts, according to an Army book on military veterinary services.
(Excerpt) Read more at workingdogmagazine.com ...
Awesome!
very touching statue.
Please PING this to the FRper who handles the dog PINGS.
Touching indeed.
Great!
Dammit! Why you wanna make me cry!?
Fantastic! Thanks for posting!
Great statue-—very moving.
I know of no statue that affected me as much as this one did. There are those that made me feel, but none that made me cry.
As a former patrol dog handler with the 509th Bomb wing back in the mid 1970’s I find it nice to see that our K-9 friends are finally being recognized.
At times it was a lonely job.working remotely but it was an assignment that I liked because of that dogs company.
He would always detect trouble before I could.
Nice, but....I’m going to say something breedist.
Standard Breeds of U.S. MWDs Today
The vast majority of U.S. military working dogs in recent times are German and Dutch shepherds and Belgian Malinois, breeds chosen because they are very aggressive, smart, loyal and athletic.
German Shepherd dogs are preferred as the standard breed because of their unique combination of traits. Shepherds are intelligent, dependable, predictable, easily trained, usually moderately aggressive, and can adapt readily to almost any climatic conditions. While many dog breeds exhibit some or most of these traits, the Shepherd more than any other breed, most consistently exhibits all of these traits.
For specialized roles, detector dogs in particular, other breeds are used. Retrievers (Labrador, Golden or Chesapeake Bay) are the preferred breeds for One Odor Detector dogs.
All dogs trained and used by the U.S. military are procured and trained by the 341st Military Working Dog Training Squadron, Lackland AFB, TX.
During Vietnam, they were trained at Fort Benning, GA.
War Dog Monument, Sacrifice Field, National Infantry Museum,
Ft. Benning, GA. Dedicated 8 October 2000.
The reason GS are and have been preferred is because of their complete versatility. That INCLUDES detection, which they excel at!
My daughter did her Basic and AIT at Ft. Benning. I remember seeing that statue.
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