Photo Courtesy of AP Wire Service
On this Veterans Day, we thought we'd bring you a salute to war dogs and other hero dogs courtesy of the American Humane Association's first annual "Hero Dog Awards" which saluted military as well as law enforcement/arson, service, therapy, search and rescue and other categories of service dogs in a star-studded event being broadcast this evening on the Hallmark Channel-check your local listings for the time, or for a repeat performance.
Oh, what will we do with our celebrities...
According to this article published a few days ago in the Huffington Post, the U.S. military first investigated the use of dogs in the military after the attack on Pearl Harbor, although Germany and France had used military dogs since WWI - and these highly trained canines have proved invaluable ever since. According to Bill Childress, the manager of the Marine Corp working dog program, "Electronic equipment is great in the laboratory, but on the battlefield, you can't beat the dogs." And to ensure that the skills of these four-legged soldiers are maximized,"they are outfitted with protective eye wear, body armor, gas masks and even vests that allow them to jump from helicopters." But giving these canine heroes the recognition they deserve is unfortunately, a fairly new phenomenon. So let's make sure to include them in our salute on this special day.
And while we're on the subject of war dogs...have you heard about the newly published book of photographs, "The Dogs of War: The Courage, Love, and Loyalty of Military Working Dogs", by journalist Lisa Rogak, whose own son is currently serving in Afghanistan. Check out a slide show of some of the book's photos here: www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/11/dogs-of-war-book_n_1079604.html.
So here's to our human and canine veterans-we salute you!
