Dogs are faithful companions

I dunno about u, but i'm a firm dog lover. I firmly believe that Dogs are really man's bestest friend. They may sometimes bite the hand that feeds them, or bark the voice that coos them. But dogs are faithful, which is one trait that i strongly believe that as humans, we should also learn from it.

My heart melted - literally, after reading this article about how a dog chased after its new found friend and owner across countries. If this article doesn't touch your heart, nothing will.

*****

Stray who wins soldier's heart is flown to US from war zone: Iraqi dog runs 100km in search of US Marine
February 28, 2008


WITH a wag of its tail and a colourful US Marines bandanna around its neck, this dog bounded into the San Deigo's Lindbergh Field airport on Friday, oblivious to the reporters and cameras present there.

US Marine Corps Captain Eric Sjoberg and his wife walk Nubs out of the San Diego airport. The couple will take care of it until Major Dennis returns from Iraq.

The clean environs of the airport were a far cry from the time when it lived in war-torn Iraq and fed on scraps.

US Marine Major Brian Dennis, 36, spotted this German shepherd-border collie mix last October.

Major Dennis was part of the military team building infrastructure along the Syria-Iraq border and training Iraqi forces.

He spotted the grey and white dog in Iraq's Anbar province while he was on patrol duty and named it Nubs after learning that someone cut the ears off believing it would make the dog more aggressive and alert.

Within weeks, Nubs was greeting Major Dennis during routine patrol stops along border communities. The Marines fed him bits of their food and by November, Major Dennis and his unit were keeping an eye out for the dog, which routinely chased their Humvees when they departed.

Life on the run, however, was taking a toll on the canine, who had lost a tooth and been bitten in the neck.

In late December, Major Dennis found Nubs almost frozen to death in the freezing temperatures. The canine had also been stabbed with a screwdriver.

Major Dennis rubbed antibiotic cream on the wound and slept with Nubs to keep him warm.

In a letter to his family in the US, he wrote: 'I really expected he would be dead. Somehow he made it through the night.'

In January this year, Major Dennis had to leave Nubs behind as he was not allowed to take it along with him when his unit was ordered back to the command post 104km away.

Nubs chased after the Marines Humvee as they departed.

Major Dennis thought that that was the last they had seen of the dog. But two days later, he and a colleague saw Nubs staring back at them.

The Major wrote in a letter: 'Somehow that crazy damned dog tracked us.'

But the reunion was short lived. US military policy prohibits having pets in war zones, and the major was given four days to get the dog off the base or kill him.

The decision was easy: Nubs was going to San Diego.

ARRANGEMENTS
With help from his Iraqi interpreter, Major Dennis managed to find a Jordanian veterinarian to get the care and paperwork needed to get the dog to the US. He also negotiated the red tape to get Nubs across the border into Jordan.

In an e-mail to his friends and family, Major Dennis wrote: 'This dog who had been through a lifetime of fighting, war, abuse... is going to live the good life.'

According to Major Dennis' mother Mrs Marsha Cargo, their family and close friends helped raise the $3,500 ($4,900) needed to get the dog from Amman, Jordan, to San Diego.

'I just can't believe it. Out there in the middle of nowhere these two find each other,' she said.

A colleague in San Diego agreed to care for the dog and have it trained until Major Dennis returns in March from Iraq.

For now, though, Nubs is finally safe - and waiting for his master to follow him.