Military Dog Sgt. Rex Returned to Handler After 6 Years

[Sunni Man]

Sergeant Rex, the bomb-sniffing dog who served three combat tours in Iraq, has finally been reunited with his former handler.

Sgt. Rex served almost 11 years as a military working dog and is trained to sniff out nine different explosive materials. Today, Sgt. Rex retired, and was returned to his old handler, ex-marine corporal Megan Leavey.

Leavey and Sgt. Rex were injured in Iraq during a bomb blast in 2006.
“I was on foot patrol in Iraq during the day, there was insurgence watching us from a far and the detonated an IED at a certain point when we got close. It was real scary, it was a long day for us, we got through it together and recovered together after,” said Leavey.

The injury brought an end to Leavey’s career, and she returned to New York, where she tried unsuccessfully to adopt Sgt. Rex.

The military denied Leavey’s request because they thought Sgt. Rex would be able to continue his bomb-sniffing duties once he recovered from his injuries.

Leavey began a new adoption effort earlier this year when she learned that Sgt. Rex was about to be retired. She launched a high-profile campaign to adopt him. She had received support from veterans groups and New York Sen. Charles Schumer, who started a petition on her behalf called “Saving Sgt. Rex.” Almost 22,000 people signed the petition.

“I’m just glad that we’re both together now and this is able to happen,” said Leavey.

Like all retiring military dogs, Sgt. Rex was assessed in his temperament and physical ability to get back to civilian life before being adopted. Dogs are returned to their handlers about 65 percent of the time.

Sgt. Rex’s first handler, Mike Dowling, wrote a book called Sergeant Rex: The Unbreakable Bond Between a Marine and His Military Working Dog about his experience with the dog on their first tour to Iraq.

Dowling says Leavey and Sgt. Rex are a perfect match.

“He’s a combat-wounded marine, and someone that’s going to understand him the best is another combat-wounded marine,” said Dowling.

“He’s my partner, and we just developed such a strong bond with each other. This is what he deserves,” said Leavey.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlin...og-sgt-rex-returned-to-handler-after-6-years/

 

[Claudette]

Super story and I'm glad she got her partner back.

Dogs during the Vietnam era were considered equipment and most of them were left behind when we left that country. Those dogs saved thousands of lives during that war and our Military just left them.

Dogs aren't considered equipment anymore and many are adopted out once their military service is over.

Rex looks in good shape for an 11yr old GSD. Ten is considered old for the breed. I know he will have a great time for the rest of his life. Kudo's to that marine for taking care of her partner.

 

[waltky]

possum likes to gnaw on Uncle Ferd's shoes...

Dogs' evolution shows why they 'love' gnawing on bones
10 July 2012 - Social living drove dogs to evolve the "tools" for chewing bones, scientists say

Scientists say they have discovered why dogs love to eat meat and bones. Ancient canines adopted pack-living about eight million years ago, to hunt larger prey, according to researchers. The resulting evolution of their jaws gradually turned the ancestors of modern wolves, and ultimately our own pets, into "hypercarnivores". Dr Joao Munoz-Doran presented the findings at the First Joint Congress for Evolutionary Biology in Ottawa, Canada.

He and his colleagues from the National University of Colombia have created a canine "family tree", piecing together the relationships between each of the more than 300 dog species. "We compared species that have very different diets," Dr Munoz-Doran explained to BBC Nature. "So we classified them as carnivores, hypercarnivores [animals that eat more than 70% meat] and omnivores [animals that eat meat and vegetation]." The ancestors of modern wolves belong to this hypercarnivorous group.

The team's analysis showed that the skull features that now distinguish a wolf - strong jaw muscles and enlarged canine teeth - first started to develop when their ancestors first began hunting in groups. "We found a common evolutionary history for these traits," Dr Munoz-Doran explained. "Eight million years ago was when [less forested, more] open habitats were spreading through Asia, Europe and North America. "And when there are open habitats, the big prey group together. So there will be more eyes watching for a predator." The only way that dogs roaming the open plains could snatch very large prey from a herd was to work together. "And after many generations of this grouping behaviour, there are new selective pressures on their [skull shape]," said the researcher.

This pressure meant that animals with larger teeth and stronger jaws were more likely to succeed in hunting, and to survive to pass on their large-toothed, strong-jawed genes to the next generation. "They developed strength in their muscles - especially the muscles that close their mouth," said Dr Munoz-Doran. "And bones that are more resistant to bending, so they could support the mechanical strains of biting the prey. "Over time, they became adapted to be 'hypercarnivorous'." The researcher pointed out that domestic dogs had "very good evolutionary reasons to enjoy chewing a bone". "They have the tools to do that," he told BBC Nature, "and they want to use their tools."

BBC Nature - Dogs' evolution shows why they 'love' gnawing on bones

 

[busybee1980]

Old story but it still warms my heart