F-18 pilot returns home to canine friend from Iraqi war zone



They spent months in an Iraqi war zone cementing a special bond.

But after more than a month of being apart, Marine Maj. Brian Dennis began to worry if Nubs the dog would still remember him, especially in a new place like San Diego.

Their reunion early Saturday at Camp Pendleton clearly showed otherwise.

The 2-year-old old dog, named for his two nubby ears, drenched Dennis' face with doggie kisses and said hello with excited whimpers.

“You remember that, huh?” Dennis said as he rubbed the dog's head.

Dennis, an F-18 pilot stationed at Miramar Marine Corp Air Station, was among several Marines to return home from a seven-month tour in Iraq early Saturday.

Among those who also returned was a group that fell in love with seven puppies and also had them brought back to San Diego. They plan to reunite with their new dogs at 3 p.m. at the Rancho Coastal Humane Society.

Nubs, a German shepherd/border collie mix, came to San Diego a month earlier after friends, family and complete strangers raised $3,500 for the dog's trip out of Iraq.

“It's almost like 'Lassie Come Home' in Iraq,” said Dennis' mother, Marsha Cargo, who anxiously waited for the unit's arrival in the wee hours of the morning.

Dennis met Nubs in the Al Anbar Province where the dog ran wild at an Iraqi Border Fort. When Nubs was a puppy, an Iraqi sliced off most of his ears in an attempt to make the dog tough and more alert.

Another time, Nubs was stabbed with a screwdriver, and Dennis nursed him back to health.

When Dennis' unit, the Border Transition Team, moved camp 70 miles away, Nubs somehow tracked them to their new location two days later.

It was against the rules to keep the dog in camp, and friends jumped in to bring Nubs to San Diego.

“Once he found us there, it seemed like this was supposed to have happened,” Dennis said Saturday. “After he walked all that distance, it seemed like he was supposed to end up in San Diego.”

For the past month, Eric Sjoberg, one of Dennis' Marine buddies, has been caring for Nubs along with Dennis' other dog, Bogey.

Nubs has also been learning new tricks and how to behave in a different environment with some help from a dog trainer.

“After running two years out in the desert, he's got a personality on him,” Sjoberg said.

Dennis said his first outing with Nubs will be a jog on the beach.

“It will consummate the whole journey, going from the sand of Iraq to the sand of San Diego.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/n...0808-nubs.html




While this story does not negate the piece of shit who threw the puppy off of the cliff I wanted to post this as a balance to that piece of shits story. I am kinda surprised that we'd allow a wild dog from a third world country into our borders but, as a dog person, I applaud this story.

The animal has to pass medical exam and has to have a few specific shots, it costs money for those things, thats probably what most of the money went for.

__________________
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd. Indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.

-Bertrand Russell

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable

-Laurence J. Peters

I never said that you had no right to have an opinion. I just said that it was, in fact, worth nothing.

-Maineman ( on 12 June 2007)

I had to do the same thing with one of our dogs when I went to flight school. When I got him back from the hunting school, he still loved me, but he never could hunt worth a damn and he farted in the car all across the desert driving to Santa Ana/

Fart, open window, clear air, get hot -- Repeat cycle..

the best dog I ever had or every will have was a little pit bull that had no ears..they where amputated after a pitfight..i got her from a animal shelter and she turned out to be the most amazing dog I ever encountered...I miss you much... BABE

__________________
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember it or overthrow it." -- Abraham Lincoln, 4 April 1861

Remember, remember, the 11th of september The Gunpowder Treason and plot;
I see of no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.....

Daughter has a pitbull in the back yard, he is the sweetest animal and very obediant, though I am NOT sure I would want to approach him as a stranger and none of us around.

__________________
The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd. Indeed in view of the silliness of the majority of mankind, a widespread belief is more likely to be foolish than sensible.

-Bertrand Russell

Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable

-Laurence J. Peters

I never said that you had no right to have an opinion. I just said that it was, in fact, worth nothing.

-Maineman ( on 12 June 2007)

I'm still convinced that labs are the best breed of dog. Granted, this is probably because I have a lab mix. In fact, much like the dad from the movie The Gremilins, I think that every household should have a cloned Shogun(tm) brand Yellow Lab/Beagle miniature lab for their family.

I had a half-lab/half-blue heeler mix and it was the best dog in the world. Until she met her demise on the streets of central Texas...