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The dog…

The New Neo Posted on by

…has now returned to the line of duty:

President Donald Trump lauded the canine at Sunday’s press conference in which he offered vivid details of how the elite U.S. Army special operators took down one of the world’s most wanted terrorists.

“Our ‘K-9,’ as they call it, a beautiful dog, a talented dog, was injured and brought back,” the president said in his national address from the White House…

…[R]etired Marine Ron Aiello told the New York Times that the dog was either a Belgian Malinois or German Shepherd.

“If they’re leading the patrol, they want a dog that is not only an explosive detection dog but on command can be aggressive,” said Aiello. “On a mission like this you want a dog that can be aggressive when necessary.”

I recently watched a demonstration of how dogs are trained to attack on command, using special padded sleeves that the trainers wear to protect themselves. Dogs are truly amazing creatures.

Comments

The dog… — 56 Comments

  1. There’s a picture purporting to be of this dog in particular. I’ll see if I can dig it up.

  3. Well, dogs are great, but let’s give our cat friends some credit. My cat, Dante, is an extraordinary hunter, and while he may never track and capture a terrorist, he does a superb job of keeping the mice at bay. He also has a remarkable ability to swat flies in flight. That said, I stand with the dogs. Keep up the good work.

  5. A book I recommend for anyone interested in military dogs is “Always Faithful: A Memoir of the Marine Corps Dogs of WW II” by William A. Putney, 2001. Putney was a Marine reservist who, in civilian life, was a veterinarian. When he was called up to active duty his superiors decided that his DVM made him the logical choice to command a new K-9 unit. His description of how the dogs and their handlers were selected and trained is fascinating (and when he recounts how the handlers used their dogs to win lots of money in bets with their Marine buddies very funny). He commanded the unit throughout the battle to liberate Guam and the courage shown by dogs and men alike was amazing.

    The kicker ending to his book is when the war was over and Putney came home. He was horrified to discover that the dogs (who had been volunteered for service by their owners who were promised that, if they survived, their dogs would be returned to them) were being destroyed. This was the result of a decision by government bureaucrats who believed that the dogs were vicious killers and obviously unfit to return to their families. Putney fought this and managed to get the decision reversed.

    All together a great story.

  6. When in a troubled situation your dogs will be on alert 360 degrees. We had to say goodbye to our 18 year old schipperke on 10/1/19. A smart, easy to train, happy, loyal companion. RIP Rocket.

  7. Babylon Bee: CNN Uncovers Evidence Hero Dog Sniffed Dozens Of Butts Back In College

    https://babylonbee.com/news/cnn-uncovers-evidence-hero-dog-sniffed-butts

    U.S.—Everyone praised the classified “Hero Dog” for taking down ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

    Everyone, that is, except CNN, who quickly searched through the dog’s internet history and college yearbooks. Sure enough, CNN found a picture of the Hero Dog partying at obedience school. In the picture, the dog is seen sniffing a butt without consent.

    “Oh yeah, good old [redacted]? He was nuts!” said one German Shepherd who attended Old Yaler Obedience School with the hero dog, according to a CNN report. “He was always sniffing any butt he could find. Cats, dogs, humans, you name it. He didn’t have a preference. He identified as pansniffual.”

  8. parker:

    My sister in law’s schipperke was a great little guy and it broke a few hearts when he died from an autoimmune type of digestive disease when only 5. RIP Makker (Dutch – mate, pal, buddy, friend).

    The photo of the dog (http://ace.mu.nu) looks like a Belgian Malinois to me.

  10. om,

    Rocket was a great dog, will be missed forever. She was the favorite of the neighborhood and duly mourned. She was totally bonded to me from first when we adopted her from last hope rescue. Jumped into my lap on the first night to say you are mine. Sweet girl. She captured my heart.

    With a new diet and supplements she fought off kidney failure for 3 years. Then she took a turn for the worse and we had no wish to see her suffer. Sad day, still missing her cheerful presence. RIP Rocket.

  11. The House Dog’s Grave (Haig, an English bulldog)

    I’ve changed my ways a little; I cannot now
    Run with you in the evenings along the shore,
    Except in a kind of dream; and you, if you dream a moment,
    You see me there.

    So leave awhile the paw-marks on the front door
    Where I used to scratch to go out or in,
    And you’d soon open; leave on the kitchen floor
    The marks of my drinking-pan.

    I cannot lie by your fire as I used to do
    On the warm stone,
    Nor at the foot of your bed; no, all the night through
    I lie alone.

    But your kind thought has laid me less than six feet
    Outside your window where firelight so often plays,
    And where you sit to read–and I fear often grieving for me–
    Every night your lamplight lies on my place.

    You, man and woman, live so long, it is hard
    To think of you ever dying
    A little dog would get tired, living so long.
    I hope than when you are lying

    Under the ground like me your lives will appear
    As good and joyful as mine.
    No, dear, that’s too much hope: you are not so well cared for
    As I have been.

    And never have known the passionate undivided
    Fidelities that I knew.
    Your minds are perhaps too active, too many-sided. . . .
    But to me you were true.

    You were never masters, but friends. I was your friend.
    I loved you well, and was loved. Deep love endures
    To the end and far past the end. If this is my end,
    I am not lonely. I am not afraid. I am still yours.

    –Robinson Jeffers, 1941

  12. Huxley,

    I think I’ve got something in my eye…dust or something…is someone dicing onions?

  13. We used to have a German Shepard named Thor when I was a kid. He was 11 when he died.

    Thor weighed 135lbs. He was a big lug. He liked to sleep up on the bed with me and pin the blankets down. He would moan when I would pull them because I was cold. Thor rarely barked but, if you asked him for a hug, he would put both front paws on your shoulders and lean his head over you shoulder and ‘talk’, making these weird almost word-like sounds. My dad taught him that trick and Thor loved to give hugs. His tail would wag a mile a minute if you hugged him back.

    He would also corral small children away from the road because traffic made Thor anxious and he knew children could be hurt. Don’t ask me how he knew, he just did.

    Thor was a lover, not a fighter.

    Except this one time. These kids who had been friends with my sister threw eggs at our house. Thor was on my bed while I was reading a book. When the eggs hit the house, Thor…slunk, for lack of a better term, off the bed at speed. His head and hind quarters were low, his shoulder high. He made no sound, not a growl or a bark. He got to the front door and waited for me to open it then stayed with me while I checked things out. He never left my side.

    I would have pitied anyone I found waiting for me. Luckily, the kids had already run away. No one ever trained Thor to do anything but crap outside and sit. Everything else, was his own.

    Dogs are a gift from God. No other animal like them. I still miss Thor, more than some people.

  14. I should say, no one ever trained him to do anything but crap outside, sit and give his crazy hugs. At 8 weeks old, he was house trained in two days.

  15. I think I’ve got something in my eye…dust or something…is someone dicing onions?

    Fractal Rabbit: I can’t get through poem either.

    It’s an odd one for Jeffers, possibly the least sentimental American poet I can think of.

  16. Huxley, thank you for the Robinson Jeffers poem; a beautiful piece. I had read some of his work but never encountered that one. He was a great poet and deserves to be better known.

  17. sdferr, thanks for the photos. & huxley for Jeffers. & everybody for the dogs-&-a-cat stories.

  18. The Jeffers lines about leaving the marks of paws and bowl especially touched me. Fifteen years ago we had an unplanned acquisition of a bichon puppy named Andy. Didn’t really want a dog at the time but it was sort of us or the shelter. I got very attached to him even though I’ve never liked little dogs. Had to say goodbye to him last March. I’ve left the reminder on my phone that pops up every two weeks telling me to give him a bath. I think about him and leave it there for a few hours or a day, then mark it completed so it’ll come up again in two weeks.

  19. “This was the result of a decision by government bureaucrats who believed that the dogs were vicious killers and obviously unfit to return to their families.” – John MacMichael

    https://amgreatness.com/2019/10/26/bureaucratic-rule-by-what-right/

    Bureaucratic Rule: By What Right?
    The oft-repeated statement that America suffers from meritocracy is the opposite of the truth. Pretense of excellence, not excellence itself, is the ground on which the U.S. ruling class bases its claim to legitimacy.

    Angelo Codevilla – October 26th, 2019

    RTWT

  20. https://babylonbee.com/news/cnn-uncovers-evidence-hero-dog-sniffed-butts

    U.S.—Everyone praised the classified “Hero Dog” for taking down ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

    Everyone, that is, except CNN, who quickly searched through the dog’s internet history and college yearbooks. Sure enough, CNN found a picture of the Hero Dog partying at obedience school. In the picture, the dog is seen sniffing a butt without consent.
    …
    The dog has issued a statement: “I like butts. I’ve always liked butts. I still like butts, but I never sniff butts to the point of excess. Who’s a good boy? I am.”

    Democrats immediately called for the dog to be court-martialed and for the death of Baghdadi to be overturned.

  22. I’m touched so many were touched by the Jeffers poem. Thank you.

    That one jumped out when I read it in Jeffers’ “Selected Poems” and I wondered why no one had ever shown it to me before.

    I emailed it to a cousin after his dog, “Rocco,” a tiny dear black fellow, died. My cousin wrote back that he was grateful I had waited a week to send it, because he couldn’t have borne reading it any sooner after the loss.

  23. There is nothing like these dogs. They are at least as smart as a fifth grader and have a better character than, well, you know…
    I can’t imagine what it must be like for the handlers of these dogs. The bond is so deep. To have to send them in to a potentially life threatening situation must be agony. And yet, the dogs live for this – they love their work!
    I am on my fifth Schutzhund*. We live in a rural area that has a fair share of sketchy denizens and my husband travels for work so we feel a trained dog is the best security option. Then again, we love dogs so we may be slightly biased…
    My last but one was from the Czechoslovakian border patrol. A real soldier. Always on duty. The first week I had him he disarmed my five year old son and his friends. Snatched the Nerf guns right out of their hands. Took him a month to learn English and that it was all in fun. About the only time he ever got excited like a normal dog was when I started braiding my hair for a run. Toward the end I added it up, in eleven years we ran over 5,000 miles together. Heaven. When he went he took a piece of me with him.
    The current ‘Best Beloved’ is Sch3, #14 in North American trials a few years back and will fake a limp to get out of a run. Go figure.
    I’m in my sixties now – maybe I’ll have time for one more in this life. If I’m lucky.

    *Schutzhund is the German term for police dog training. Also known as IPO. Dogs are tested on three escalating levels of tracking, obedience and protection. Following that, dogs can receive specialized training in drug and explosives detection, search and rescue, etc.

  25. huxley, thanks for the poem. I have tears in my eyes for our two previous springer spaniels. We buried them in the woods where they loved to run. Just last evening my husband was upset thinking that Daisy (the current springer) would soon be nine. No, she’ll only be eight. One more year!

  27. Does this make it a
    doggie dog world?

    I’m sad the not-guilty kids didn’t live; very glad the dog did.

  30. Fractal Rabbit,

    A good friend grew up with a female German Shepherd as the family dog (several, over the years). When he and I were in our teens we’d sometimes wrestle, as teen boys do. She would sit off to the side, seemingly uninterested, but any time I started to get an advantage in the fight she would start helping him by impeding me. Gently grabbing hold of one of my sleeves, or pant cuffs and tugging. If I backed off, so would she. If I continued, she would get more aggressive. She knew how not to hurt me while helping him. She also knew how to hurt me if I didn’t take the hint.

    I was always impressed with her intelligence and the nonchalant manner she was obviously always guarding the family in that house.

  31. The spirits of dogs and cats are very close to 3d humans, will eventually get a spiritual upgrade and become self aware. Then they can decide to incarnate into a human avatar to experience life from another viewpoint.

    If 1d is rock and water, then 2d is pet/animal consciousness.

    In actual fact, many pets are like “children” to their host parents, the human owner. Because they are involved in a teacher/mentor relationship.

  32. The moral of this tale (tail?) is that even our dogs are more heroic than the wimpy terrorists.

  34. I care back. When I moved to Texas I learned about strychnine traps. No way I was going to expose my dog to that.

  55. oK. I have begun to laugh at myself. The thing is, if you take yourself seriously I will show up.

    History belongs to those who show up.

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