Posted on 02/22/2008 6:42:44 AM PST by blam
Dog Saved by Marine Coming to Calif.
Published: 2/22/08, 9:05 AM EDT
By Chelsea J Carter
SAN DIEGO (AP) - It began with a simple act of kindness to save an abused, injured dog from becoming one more victim in the Iraq war.
But what followed for Marine Maj. Brian Dennis and the mutt was a tale of friendship and loyalty that spanned miles and overcame long odds - one set to take a turn Friday with the anticipated arrival here of the Marine's best friend.
"This dog who had been through a lifetime of fighting, war, abuse ... is going to live the good life," Dennis told his family in an e-mail from Iraq.
The tale unfolded in October, a few months after Dennis deployed to Iraq from San Diego to work as part of the military team building infrastructure along the Syria-Iraq border and training Iraqi forces to take over.
Dennis, 36, of St. Pete Beach, Fla., had volunteered for the assignment. It was a departure from his role as a fighter pilot. He had seen the country from the air, but it was different on the ground.
Dennis wrote stories home about the reciprocal relationship that desert dogs, strays wandering outside border towns, had with Iraqis.
"The dogs get to eat the Iraqi scraps and have a home in the middle of the desert," he wrote in an e-mail. "The Iraqis get an incredible early warning system; these dogs hear anything approaching from miles away and go nuts and scramble to defend their territory."
While on patrol in the Anbar province, Dennis spotted what appeared to be a gray and white, male German shepherd-border collie mix. He named the dog Nubs after learning someone cut the ears off believing it would make the dog more aggressive and alert.
Within weeks, Nubs was greeting Dennis during routine patrol stops along border communities. The Marines fed him bits of their food and by November, the Marine and his unit were keeping an eye out for the dog, which routinely chased their Humvees when they departed.
Life on the run, however, was taking a toll on the dog. He had lost a tooth and been bitten in the neck. In late December, Dennis found Nubs near death in freezing temperatures. The dog had been stabbed with a screwdriver.
Dennis rubbed antibiotic creme on the wound and slept with Nubs to keep him warm.
"I really expected when I woke up for watch he would be dead," Dennis wrote. "Somehow he made it through the night."
Dennis thought he had seen the last of the dog days later when his squad headed back to its command post some 65 miles away. He couldn't take the dog with him and watched as it tried to follow the Humvees away from the border.
Two days later, while Dennis and a comrade were working on a Humvee, he looked up and saw the dog staring at him.
"Somehow that crazy damned dog tracked us," he wrote Jan. 9.
But the reunion was short lived. Military policy prohibits having pets in war zones, and Dennis was given four days to get the dog off the base or kill him.
The decision was easy: Nubs was going to San Diego. The logistics, though, were anything but easy.
With help from his Iraqi interpreter, Dennis managed to find a Jordanian veterinarian to get the care and paperwork needed to get the dog to the states. He also negotiated the red tape to get Nubs across the border into Jordan.
His family and close friends helped raise the $3,500 needed to get the dog from Amman, Jordan, to San Diego, said his mother, Marsha Cargo.
"I just can't believe it. Out there in the middle of nowhere these two find each other," Cargo said.
A colleague in San Diego agreed to care for the dog and have it trained until Dennis returns in March from Iraq.
"We anticipate a real steep learning curve for Nubs," Capt. Eric Sjoberg said. "We want him to learn to just be a dog."
For now, though, Dennis will settle for the knowledge that Nubs is finally safe - and waiting for his master to follow him.
On the news last night, I saw this dog going through the airport.
What a nice story. Welcome to America, Nubs! God bless the people who collaborated to bring him home to his beloved master.
These kinds of stories restore faith and hope for the rest of us in this otherwise sad, chaotic time in this world.
Bump for later read.
Carolyn
Someone cut off the poor dog’s ears, and someone else stabbed it with a screwdriver. How hateful. Thank goodness for this wonderful GI.
I have asked this on other threads, but I still haven’t gotten an answer. It is my understanding that mohammedans hate dogs, consider them unclean, etc. How, then, do dogs wind up in Iraq or any other mohammedan country?
This is a great story. Amazing, isn’t it, how this will never make the NYT front page.
Thank you.
It never ceases to amaze me how mankind can be so cruel, yet even in the worst of societies there is always someone that has a heart that is open to all God’s creatures.
While we need to share the Gospel of Christ with all, It is these people who are usually the ones who are receptive to the Good News.
We are all born with an addiction, and until we realize we are made to be addicted to God, we will waste our lives getting addicted to anything from work to pornography.
Those who are lost in the false religion of Islam, but still desire truth, will always have a soft spot in their heart for all of God’s animals as I said earlier. It is these individuals who will always have dogs around.
Those who would abuse any of God’s creatures,(and abuse is not to be misunderstood as hunting them or training them to work), are truly the lost.
Even if that does not answer your question, maybe this will.
In many Middle Eastern societies dogs are trained to work as watch dogs as they are in America, and what child will not be moved and enjoy the dogs company as they grow up?
You can bet that, if the NYT prints it, the theme will be that US soldiers, “according to anonymous sources, might have been” the ones who stabbed the dog with a screwdriver.
Be careful what you wish for, and know your enemy.
Dogs are considered unclean there.
The vast majority of dogs in Iraq are wild animals that scavenge or hunt in packs. They are larger and sturdier than one can imagine. They are NOT your friendly neighborhood Fido!
And fwiw, keeping pets is a violation of General Order number 1 over there, or at least it used to be.
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