As the memorial day weekend draws near, our thoughts turn to the men and women who serve in the military to protect and preserve the freedoms we so often take for granted. Often forgotten are the dogs who serve alongside them. They assist troops with their keen visual and olfactory senses, sniffing out hidden bombs and detecting menacing forces, oftentimes saving lives and providing invaluble moral support. They, too, are  deserving of our thanks.

There are a number of different organizations working to bring retired military dogs home so they can be adopted by either the dog's handler or an approved family. One such organization is the United States War Dog Association; if you'd like to find out more about them or how you can support their efforts, please click here. 

Military dogs are not a recent addition to our defence tactics, but have long assisted soldiers, as was the case of a  tiny Yorkshire Terrier named Smoky who was found bedraggled and starving in a foxhole in the New Guinea jungle in the 1940s. No one knows her origin, but she was highly intelligent and was taught many tricks, entertaining troops in camps and hospitals from Australia to Korea. She also became a war dog in Luzon, January 1945, by helping troops bring a communications cable through an eight inch pipe that was seventy feet  long and ran under a runway. Pulling a string with the wires attached, she scrambled along the entire length of pipe, climbing through the piles of sand that had accumulated along the way. Without her help, the taxi strip would have had to been closed down while a culvert was dug, exposing the planes to bombing. Now that's one patriotic pooch! For more on Smoky visit: http://www.smokywardog.com/.

If you’re looking for something to do on the long weekend and you’re in New York, we definitely recommend checking out the AKC museum which also houses one of the finest collections of canine-related art and exhibits on a range of dogs from history. Included is Sgt. Stubby, the bull terrier mix widely regarded as the U.S Army’s first service dog, who served for 18 months on the Western Front during World War I and is the only dog to be nominated for rank and then promoted to sergeant through combat. Plan your visit here:  https://museumofthedog.org/

 

Have a wonderful and safe long weekend with your pooches!