Soldier Dogs Book Review: Human-Animal Bond is Alive in the US Military

The Grouchy Puppy motto is "give fearlessly and influence positively" and comes from my own amazing experiences with dogs. The working dogs of my childhood were the first to teach me to believe in the human-animal bond. My adopted large blended dog from the San Francisco SPCA has continued what they started, with her devotion and influence. Dogs have shown me how they all fearlessly give of themselves and positively influence us humans -- asking for so little in return. The human-animal bond is real and it's spectacular.

Proving that the human-animal bond is alive in our military, is Maria Goodavage's new book Soldier Dogs: The Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes. She had me nodding my head with each story about these amazing military working dogs [MWD] and their handlers. The MWD demonstrate in a military setting: they know good people when they smell them, and they'll let you train them to do any task - if they trust you.

Lars, the Jack Russell Terrier being handed down into a submarine to do his duty as a sniffer dog.   Photo credit: US Navy Photo by Petty Officer Second Class Paul D. Williams

Maria's book is well balanced and mostly poignant, though I'll admit that there have been some chapters that I have put off reading. Out of full disclosure, Maria is a dear friend of mine from years past. She knew I would want to read her book, but she took pity on my big heart and told me which chapters to start with. How am I going to read her stories if I'm crying?

This is a great book if you are interesting in learning about dogs and their handlers in the Armed Forces. Maria went all out in her research - even putting herself on the other end of an attacking dog. What dedication!

Maria doing research!   Photo credit: Robin Jerstad

I highly recommend reading Soldier Dogs, it is well-written, well-sourced and well done!

 

SOLDIER DOGS EXTRAS

Check out the Soldier Dogs website for bonus content and research.

There are soldier dog oriented resources and a gallery of photos not included in the book. Here are two moving tributes to military dogs and their handlers.

Maria took time away from her family, and job as news editor and featured writer at Dogster to write this book. Read her recent Dogster article she wrote about the legislation in the house and senate about military dogs.

Learn more about working dogs and the roles they have in our lives.

You can find Maria's book on Amazon:

Comments

[Pup Fan]

I saw the author on the Daily Show last night - the book does look great!

[Sharon]

It is A.J. and I'm not just saying that because she introduced me to my husband :-)

The book is well researched. I liked the long and short chapters mixed together. It kept the flow going. Reading about all the different dogs was great too, especially in this unusual setting (the military!)

Maria is great and has a nice easy style to her writing. It's almost deceptive the amount that you learn.