Full disclosure—I am a dog person.  In addition to my two middle schoolers, I have two “fur babies”, Golden Retrievers, who, like my son and daughter, are lovable and cute, but who never talk back or complain about homework and chores.

Tuesday morning, in the middle of the morning rush, I turned on a local Phoenix TV station and heard a breaking news story about a dog that had been mistakenly euthanized at a local animal shelter here in the Valley. Target, a hound mix, was no typical dog.  A former stray from the eastern part of Afghanistan, Target and two other dogs were credited with saving many lives when they thwarted a suicide bomber’s attack on a U.S. military barracks in Afghanistan last February. 

Target and the other surviving dog’s actions were so heroic that a charity group paid to bring them to the U.S., where Target was adopted by an Army medic who had performed aid at the scene of the bombing. Target had wandered out of the family yard and was picked up by animal control, who posted her photo on their website.  The family saw her photo, paid the fee to claim her, but by the time they got to the shelter to pick her up, she had been mistakenly euthanized. 

This is obviously a tragedy all the way around. From all news accounts, the family, the public, the overworked shelter staff—are all devastated.

In one of those ironic twists of fate, that same day, I logged onto Facebook to see a status update from a friend of mine, an Airman and mom deployed to Kyrgyzstan.  She said a medical team at her base was working feverishly to save the life of a Polish working dog, a shepherd named Edy, who had fallen seriously ill. This is how devoted people in the military are to the dogs who serve with them.  Unfortunately, Edy later passed away.

I personally met a canine hero during my deployment earlier this year to Haiti.  Spirit, a cadaver dog, had the unenviable duty of climbing through twisted iron and piles of rubble to find bodies beneath.  I met her in the lobby of the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince.  A calm, gentle dog with a loving nature and sense of serenity, her name said it all.   I remember the mood in the embassy a month later when a grieving American father was told his daughter’s body could not be accounted for.  We knew how tirelessly Spirit and her handlers had looked and searched and we grieved not only for him, but for the thousands of other bodies that would never be accounted for.  

Every day I am reminded of a canine hero from September 11th, when I walk into my daughter’s bedroom.  She keeps a large framed poster of artist Ron Burns’ tribute to Sirius hanging on her wall.  Sirius was a Labrador Retriever and explosives detection dog who lost his life when Tower #2 fell.  Or, I look at a children’s book about a dog named Nubs, who walked 70 miles through freezing temperatures in Iraq to reunite with the Marine who’d saved his life.

Dogs serve in war zones, they protect our ports, work to stop the import of illegal drugs, assist people with disabilities, and so much more. But beyond their mission, they provide their human partners serving in difficult circumstances with a loyal companion.

Sometimes heroes come from unexpected places.  Often, they are humble and gentle in spirit. They act out of loyalty, love, courage, devotion to fellow man. They are selfless. 
Maybe that’s why dogs make such great heroes, whether they’re confronting terror, helping the helpless…or even just providing a loving cuddle when their people need it most.