[bagpipe music] ♪ ♪ [sentimental piano music with snare drums] ♪ ♪ [Weitlauf] A lot of canines that serve and protect us.

The military canines, they're a veteran just like a lot of us standing here today.

And we will give them a final resting place with full, military honors.

[sentimental music] ♪ ♪ [soldier] Halt.

[solemn music] [truck passing by] [dog barking] [acoustic guitar music] ♪ ♪ [Radwan] My first deployment was to Iraq.

I was a combat engineer to a line company.

We had Iraqi army with us at that time and there was a joint operation.

We had robots and we also had a dog team.

And, instead of sending a dog into a building to search for booby traps, the infantry team just ran inside and got blown up.

[explosion booming] The entire building collapsed.

We had to pick out chunks of wall to recover the bodies of three soldiers that went in there.

I still have that image.

The whole thing could've been prevented.

If the dog was utilized, the dog would've detected explosives.

Right after that, I didn't want to do anything else but work a dog.

[sentimental music] [man speaking softly to dog] [sentimental music] - The threat is HMEs, homemade explosives, so we have a bunch of chemical based peroxides and ammonia nitrate.

We just replicate how they make it.

The best analogy is the Oklahoma City bombing.

That's all it was, fertilizer and diesel gas.

The dog has a sense of smell that can't be duplicated so we need to use them to their best abilities.

Matter of fact, we've just developed a new training technique because they're burying IEDs deeper.

[sentimental music] [explosions booming] [explosions booming] [explosions booming] - There not even just used against soldiers.

Civilians are being taken out by explosives.

The dogs are able to find multiple types of explosive odor and just by finding these odors, which happens all the time everyday, it just takes one less explosive device out of the enemy's hands.

[Hillard] It's a funny thing that in our 21st century very, very technologically intensive world, nothing is as cost effective as a properly trained substance detector dog.

[gentle acoustic music] Where we're standing right now is the largest working dog facility in the world.

We might have up to 900, 950 dogs here at a given time.

Where we're taking particular combinations of males and females that are very, very successful.

And then we breed them together.

The puppies are born in this facility, right here.

At eight weeks of age they go out to a foster system where they learn how to bond with human beings.

They learn to be willing to please, they learn to like to play games, all these things that are critical to the development of the working dog.

[toy squeaking] At the end of five months of the foster process, the dog comes back to the air force base, is certified in detection and in patrol and then he goes to his field installation where he'll be married up with a handler and begin his career as a military working dog.

[dog barking] [R. Miller] When the handlers get here, we'll ask them to write us basically a biography of themselves to let us know what they like, what they're like.

And it gives us a sense of their personality and then we try to pair the handler and the dogs together.

[upbeat acoustic music] What we're training here are combat dog teams.

We're trying to train them to the best of our abilities to help conduct their missions and to actually save lives.

[upbeat acoustic music] [dog panting] - Relax, why y'all sniffed up?

I was 18 when I came to the states.

My family moved to Connecticut.

I didn't know English when I first got here so it was pretty rough.

I enrolled in Central Connecticut State University, graduated with masters in graphic design.

I couldn't find a job in my field but Army gave me an opportunity to be an officer and I became a citizen.

Based on my bio, they gave me Dex.

I didn't expect to graduate with Dex because at that time, Dex wouldn't listen to me at all.

No, no, I hated Dex.

No, he's such an independent dog that he thinks he doesn't need anybody.

I would tell him left, he would go right.

He would not drop his reward, you know.

It had to be choked out and I don't believe in choking dogs out.

[speaking softly to dog] It took us several months to fix that problem.

We like to say that nobody's a dog whisperer and if you think that you know everything about dogs, it's time for you to get out and do something else because no two dogs are alike.

[gentle music] That's what makes you a good trainer or a handler, to see what would work and use your imagination.

Slowly, we warmed up to each other.

We just have that bond.

And, it feels like we've been buddies for years.

[upbeat acoustic music] [J. Miller] Perfect, C-4.

The team actually has to go through certification.

We try and do everything as realistic as possible.

They'll run through 20 to 30 different explosive aids and the dog will have to find 95% of them to actually become certified.

And I want to make sure that that dog will go out there and find the bomb.

[dogs barking] - Bomb dog teams can only have one miss and two falses and if I go out there stressed out and worried, he's gonna sense it.

- You got both aisles right here.

Good?

[dog panting] Things that the handlers watch for when they're on odor and when they're not so they need to know the difference between shade hunting.

If it's a heat index of 103 and you're an all black dog and you've been working for about 20, 25 minutes, you're probably looking for the shade.

[Shappard] I can tell that he was starting to get tired.

His sniffing behavior will change.

He won't be actively searching.

If sometimes I feel like I'm getting upset with him is when I'll just take a break and clear my head and then try it again.

[dog panting] Ready?

Come on.

[dog panting] [J. Miller] Look at the dog's eyes.

He's looking right at you.

He's staring at you.

He went into a sit and he is staring at you.

That's a cue you need to look for.

[soldier cheering] - All animals are sensory-based thinkers.

To understand animals, you've got to get away from verbal language and enter a sensory based world.

A world of smell, vision, touch, sound.

What it's looking at, what's orienting towards.

Does his hair start to rise up a little bit?

Or, it might indicate some trouble.

It's sensory detail.

[woman cheering] [J. Miller] Knocked it out of the park, 100%.

She found all the aids that we planted out there.

When you put that time in with that dog, you're actually out there working and rewarding him for the things that he does right.

As weird as it sounds, it's kind of like the movie Avatar.

I hook into that dog and I figure out what he's doing and then we work together as a team.

[Jennings] My first deployment, we're based out of Baghdad, Iraq.

We did two-a-day missions, train Iraqi police.

I was made a team leader so I had soldiers directly underneath me.

Once I got back from my first deployment, I did an interview and was selected for K-9.

And when I made the switch, it was very hard for me.

I was used to being able to perfect everything whether it's shooting a weapon, you always know what task you need to do to get better at it.

And dog handling, there's a million different avenues.

Up!

There was jokes when I first got here that I might as well just build a room in the kennels and sleep here because I was here all the time.

It did not matter the time or day.

I was a perfectionist.

I had to be the best at everything.

That's how I was raised in the Army.

I almost didn't make it in K-9.

I had such a line mentality that I wasn't able to laugh and play as much as dogs needed.

What people already knew, how to have fun, how to play, I didn't know how to do that.

It's very true when they tell you in K-9 that the dog teaches you.

Everything I learned came from Block.

If I would ignore him, he would let me know.

He would come up and nudge me, he would go find a ball and try and play with me, anything to get me to interact with him.

They can't talk but they're gonna look at you.

Why do I have to do this?

What do I get for it?

I'm not just gonna do this because you told me to.

You have to give that dog something in return.

And that dog needs love.

Knowing that you are relating to that animal in such a way that they don't have to work for you, they want to work for you.

[soft music] [woman cheering] Good boy!

[R. Miller] We build emotional bonds with these dogs because we're with them for quite a while.

There's that fine line that you have to follow to understand that the dog is an asset.

The dog is a tool.

He's assigned to the Army and all we are is basically caretakers for the dog.

[dog barking] - Stay!

Heel.

[J. Miller] Besides just detecting explosives, most of our dogs are patrol trained also and so they're trained to bite and attack.

[Copeland] Down.

[man screaming] That's training that we do every single day 'cause a dog could bite somebody and seriously hurt someone so I have to control the situation.

[man yelling] No!

Out!

Escort.

[dramatic music] Escort.

Sir, stop right here.

[dog panting] [Aguilar] Lux, his tattoo number is Lima 400.

Usually a dog's tattoos are right here, on their ears.

He's a seven year old German Shepherd and he's got two deployments, one in Iraq, one in Afghanistan.

He's a loving dog, definitely not a fighter.

Only bites on command and always eager to work.

He's my best friend so the last thing I'd want to see is him go down by gun fire or an explosion.

And that's probably my biggest fear, coming home without him.

[people chattering] This is my first dog deployment.

- Make sure that your pet is... relieves himself before you go up there.

- In addition to your personal protection gear and everything for the individual soldier, you gotta take the stuff for the dog.

So he brought a first aid kit, toys, harnesses.

I'm just happy that the airlines let the dogs fly up top to be with the handler the whole time.

So somebody might have a guest that they weren't planning on in their row.

[people chattering] [Aguilar] These last days with my family, they were hard but hopefully I come back safe, come back with my dog safe and bring back the soldiers safe as well.

[people chattering] [man] Stay safe man.

[slow sentimental music] ♪ ♪ [helicopter whirring] [Radwan] Where I live, the VSP, surrounded by mountains, 7,000 feet elevation.

Oxygen's kind of scarce.

You know, climate is really harsh.

It's either snowing or 100 degrees outside.

The place seems deserted.

Even though this is my third deployment, it's still mind boggling to me how people can live in a place where nothing will grow.

Things like food, water, are really hard to get where I'm at.

It seems like you're in a moon, moon dust everywhere.

People live in mud huts.

Those structures, they're harder than concrete.

There's one that I've seen in Kandahar Province that was built by Alexander the Great.

And it's still standing.

Brits had it as their compound and then we did.

The purpose of Village Stability Platform is to train locals so they can defend themselves and their villages.

By us being on the ground, we gather intelligence and we'll make contacts with people.

[people chattering in a foreign language] We get mixed feelings from the locals.

They either don't want to talk to us 'cause they're afraid of Taliban retaliation or they're really friendly.

Dex is really comfortable around people he doesn't know.

When we search vehicles, I know that he will not mess with anybody and he will not make anybody uncomfortable.

I can feel safe working with him around kids.

[gentle acoustic music] Let's go buddy.

[gentle acoustic music] Those VSPs are not meant to be long-lived so they lived in as rough conditions as they possibly can to avoid cost.

Our shower was a hose coming out of the well.

You know, we had to turn a pump on and water was around 40 degrees.

Dex used to sleep on the bed with me but like any dog, he sheds, so he was leaving a lot of hair on my blanket.

But we didn't have washers or dryers.

You know, everything had to be hand washed in a tiny bucket.

So, I had to make him sleep on his own bed.

Whenever I feel I need to bond with him, you know, like cuddle him, he hops on my bed and we just sleep together.

[man speaking softly to dog] When I have to pull tower guard, I just leave him in my room.

He's not that type of dog that would chew everything up.

I can leave a plate full of food on my makeshift desk and leave him alone there and he will not touch it.

He could eat all day, he's a Lab.

But, you know, he just knows not to do it.

[Jennings] Once you deploy, it's you and your dog.

[gate clamoring] You're in front of everybody else.

You're making sure that everybody else is safe.

You rely on that dog and that dog relies on you.

Whether you like it or not, you guys will be the reason the other one survives.

Block was my first dog.

We certified a month into training and we deployed on September of 2009 for about 10 months.

I had to learn how to work this dog on a leash and also carry a weapon.

Most of the dogs take a few weeks to get accustomed to the new smells and especially when we work through dust and sand and all the craziness.

It scared me to think that we were going out there and he was just walking or going to sniff another animal.

If you don't trust your dog, you're not gonna be a good dog team and at that point, I didn't know if I did or not.

We had been out for a very long time, most of the day, and Block signaled that there was explosive in an underground tunnel and I told the person in charge and they didn't believe me and I told 'em again.

Well, they took their metal detectors and it didn't sense anything and he's like, alright, there's nothing there.

He's like, your dog's just tired.

The dog is the asset, I'm just here to tell you what he's thinking.

If you don't want me here, I'll leave.

And we left.

And there was a squad behind us and they found a cache there.

A cache is a horde of weapons and so, that upset me.

But at least then I knew he was working.

At least then I knew "Hey, he does smell it so we're okay."

I didn't feel as if we were just walking in front as a false sense of security.

[Radwan] We stress obedience quite a lot.

Especially the fact that he's off leash, you know, he has to listen to me and conform to my commands.

Every dog has some flaws or bad habits and Dex had a few bad habits like, happened twice when he killed a chicken.

And, first time I was really upset.

Hey!

Hey Dex!

Dex!

He disappeared out of my sight and I had to chase him down into unknown, by myself.

That could've been really dangerous and potentially fatal.

I don't want anything to happen to him.

I'm responsible for him.

Feels like having a child with you.

[soldier] Ha, Rad's dog just killed a chicken.

[laughing] [laughing] - Guys made fun of me for several days.

What they can see is my dog is running around and sniffing everything.

I think it goes back to him being a prey animal and he was just trying to please me.

He's like, "Dad," you know, "I got this for you and this is what I do."

I couldn't be mad after that.

[collar rattling] We're coming back from a firefight and insurgents, you know, took advantage of it and they placed an IED on our way back.

So, our commander vehicle got blown up.

[dramatic music] Insurgents use multiple devices.

We'll rush to aid our injured buddies and step into another bomb.

[dramatic music] He found an IED while we searched around it.

It boosted my confidence and I'm sure guys feel safer knowing that my dog is capable of finding it.

[dog panting] [soldier] We have Belgian Malinois, German Shepherds, Labs, Golden Retrievers.

We look for dogs that are bold but not aggressive.

It's easier to train the dogs, having a high drive dog that will do anything for its specific reward.

[Davis] When you say military working dog, I mean, she doesn't really want to be petted but when she's inside her kennel, she loves, love.

But outside, she'll let me pet her every now and again but like my old dog, I used to love on her all the time and she just wants to go, go, go.

I mean, she clicks with me, we're both hyper.

We're both, like to work.

Maya, come.

Find me.

Good girls.

[gentle acoustic music] I like to train as we are gonna deploy because you never know what type of mission might come down.

Your unit's gonna be counting on you whether it's finding the enemy, finding a missing soldier to finding the bombs.

Crawl.

Sit!

Good.

Stay.

Crawl.

Sit.

Yes!

You did good mamas.

[people chattering] [metal clanging] [dog panting] Up.

Good girls.

[clammering, dogs barking] [bus engine roaring] [dogs barking] [gentle acoustic guitar] - Military, everything's issued gear.

Like, even our dogs have serial numbers but, you know, this piece of gear can look you in the eye and has emotions just like you do.

You get to work with it everyday.

It's, I don't know, words can't really describe.

[dog barks] Good.

Come.

Heel.

Come.

Being in Yuma, this is in the States, the closest you can get to Afghanistan, Iraq and so, take this chance to push my dog.

She wasn't used to the terrain so her paws got really sore so that threw a wrench in our searches but it was good to get my dog used to it so she can be effective overseas.

I actually had to change some things in myself because I like being in control.

I was doing too much, I had to let my dog work, be a dog because that can become an issue.

They're so obedient to you that they'll sniff something that'll explode and then they'll leave it to come to you.

It's disobedience but they're saying, "Hey, the bomb's here."

- Hey!

My biggest fear would be not finding something and it's right there and then find out that someone was on that same route, that same area and got killed.

[woman cheering] Good girl!

Good girls.

- People don't understand how much we deploy.

I was here less than a year, I deployed.

I came back, I was here a year, I deployed again and that's how it is for most handlers.

I had MWD Block for three years.

When they needed another deployment, Block was not in the best health.

They decided that he was not to be trusted to go down range.

So I had to switch dogs.

Diesel is a patrol explosive detector dog and he's been on two deployments so far and he's saved both of his handlers and many other soldiers.

He will work just to be loved, just for you to tell him that he did a good job.

When I got him, I wasn't happy about it.

I just wanted my Block back but once you start building that bond, it's life changing.

For me, Iraq was so much easier than Afghanistan.

It's flat, you can see what's going on.

You can see where the threat is.

In Afghanistan, you can't see anything.

They can be hiding anywhere and the anxiety level is a million times worse.

In the line, you have to be a very strong minded individual.

You have to be able to make decisions on the spot.

There's no questioning, there's no thinking and later you deal with the consequences.

Here, you have to be able to change that.

It's almost more demanding because you have to have that same mentality when you're taking care of yourself and the soldiers but you also have to give what that dog needs.

[helicopter whirring] We were going to an objective and people started shooting so we got down and we started shooting back.

[guns blasting] There was an explosion that went off next to us.

[explosion booming] All in that instant, Diesel jumped on my back.

Instead of him trying to run away, he stayed with mom.

That friendship, that bond in his eyes was more than I could ever ask for.

Right then I knew, that dog will give his life for me.

[Hediger] This sincerely felt interdependence exists in what most of us would recognize as horror.

Bombs, death surrounds them.

And in the middle of this is this extraordinarily rich, powerful bond.

What we've got is the militarization of love.

- Previous deployment, I work with conventional army.

This time I'm attached to a special forces unit.

I'm using infantry tactics.

Not much between me and the enemy and I'm not used to.

I'm used to being in a vehicle, you know, returning fire from a gun turret.

Dex and I are up front so he feels a little unsafe.

I have to pay attention to his slightest changes of behavior.

He can wag his tail a little more, he can circle, he can follow the scent.

Dog handlers are targeted, that's why I require a secure element just in case so I don't miss somebody pointing a weapon at me.

Hey, hold.

Get security.

We have interpreter with us.

He hears about Taliban over the radio.

You know, they're like, "Hey, we see Americans.

We're gonna shoot at them."

[soldier] Hey Dod, they heard on a radio, radio, Taliban.

Up front, over there.

Hey, did you guys hear that radio chatter?

Okay.

Make sure those guys know up front.

[Radwan] As soon as we arrive in open area, they started shooting at us.

[soldiers yelling] [guns blasting] Jam!

[soldier yelling] [soldier] Roger.

[soldier] Give me your 16.

Mine keeps jamming on me.

Is he hit?

[guns blasting] [Radwan] No, he's [mumbling] [guns blasting] [soldiers yelling] [guns blasting] - I don't see [bleep].

Move up!

We'll cover 'em.

- The guy was firing an automatic weapon so close to Dex and I didn't know how to calm him down because he was jerking, he broke his collar off.

I had to put my legs around him and with my body weight, just to keep him on the ground.

[soldier] Move up!

[Radwan] The is the worst I felt as a dog handler.

[soldiers yelling] [soldier] Let me reload.

[mumbling] [soldier] What's up?

[Radwan] I'm gonna put him up.

[soldier] You're gonna put him up?

[Radwan] I'm gonna put him on the back.

[soldier] Okay, go ahead.

Take my weapon.

- One of our vehicles drove by and I waved the driver to stop so I could put Dex to safety.

I felt like I was vulnerable, you know, but at the same time, I'm gonna need Dex for the rest of my deployment.

[soldiers yelling] [soldier] Hey Rad, give me some ammo, bro.

[Radwan] If I sat in the vehicle, you know, drinking cold water while these guys are running and gunning, it would make me feel really bad.

So, put myself to a position where I can be used.

[soldier] Rad, let's go, we gotta bring up the rear.

- I think by doing that, I bonded better with my team.

They noticed that my job is not limited to working a dog but also being their protector and, you know, their buddy.

[soldier] Hey Rad.

Yeah, left side, left side of me.

Left side of me.

[men breathing heavy] Alright, we're set.

[birds chirping] - Once I got back, Block was not in the best health and that's when we started getting his X-rays and finding out that he needed to retire.

Block has LS disease.

He has joint pain, knees getting ready to blow out, hip dysplasia.

For a nine year old German Shepherd, that's quite a bit.

He had seven years in the Military Working Dog Program and that's comparable to 14 or 21 years for a human.

The grueling, physical demands of what we ask them to do, there comes a time where these dogs just cannot handle it anymore.

I do believe that dogs deserve retirement when they are done working.

There are others that disagree with me but I feel that they're the same as soldiers.

They've done their time and it's time for them to live the last few years that they have here, just relaxing.

Retiring him was my dream come true.

He's just been amazing around everybody.

I haven't seen any issues with him.

He was dog aggressive, he was people aggressive, he came in, he sniffed once, went outside, got along with the dogs.

He was a completely different dog.

Even with all Block's aches and pains, all he wants to do is see me happy.

Whatever I'm doing, he's with me, sleeping right next to the door, guarding me.

Trying to run just so he can play with me.

Come here Block.

It's just good knowing that Block's finally at home and can actually relax and rest.

Yes, we're good.

We're all good.

[people chattering] [gentle acoustic music] [R. Miller] We do work with our dogs to try to return 'em to duty because of the jobs that they do and how important that is.

- You know, athletic dogs, just like athletic people, what are the common problems you have?

So we have a couple of different joints in the dog that we have issues with.

Knee surgeries are one of the common surgeries that our orthopedic surgeons do.

We have a lot of success with returning 'em to duty.

And the big part of the dog's success is how well the dog accepts rehab.

[dog barking] - You know, you have to remember they have really keen senses of smell, for example.

They're smelling things that we don't even perceive.

In some ways I always think that some of the emotions that dogs experience are richer and unfiltered and deeper than human emotion.

[gentle acoustic music] - We're 100 years into studying PTSD in people and still don't know too, too much about it.

But it seems to be a problem that we're experiencing more and more with the dogs and it includes things like over-reactivity to noise or their attempts to escape or avoid settings that they normally would have worked really well in.

It can also include changes in rapport, that's the relationship between the handler and the dog.

- All mammals share the same parts of the brain that are important in processing emotions so it's not surprising to find out that dogs can suffer from the same maladies as humans, that soldiers would come back suffering from PTSD and so would the dogs.

[dog panting] - MWD Paco, he's a four-year-old Belgian Malinois.

When I first got him, he wasn't a fan of gunfire but since we did get in so many firefights, it just progressed.

It was a 15K walk to the site that we were going to and we had one road in and one road out.

It was me walking in front with Paco and we started taking gun fire.

Usually that indicates that you're getting close to an IED.

[guns blasting] It was a 10 hour firefight.

We gotta continue walking, no matter if you're getting shot at or if you find an IED, you gotta deal with it quick and in hurry 'cause you have 30 trucks behind you that are gonna get pinned down and then lives are at stake.

We had two finds.

I was on my way out with Paco and a mortar landed approximately two feet from us.

Paco took a pretty decent amount of shrapnel.

We had to perform first aid on him and get him medevaced out.

He saved my life plenty of times and I'm very grateful for that.

[gentle acoustic music] It's hard not being with him 24/7 like we were down there.

I found myself waking up in the middle of the night a couple times trying to find him in the bed.

I wouldn't give him up for anything except I'm going to have to.

[dog panting] - It's gonna take me a while to get that bond with him 'cause right now he's probably just thinking about his other handler.

He doesn't care about me.

The problem that Paco came back with was he had anxiety towards gunfire.

[gentle acoustic music] - One of the things in people PTSD is this idea of intrusive recollection.

It's something that kind of comes back into your consciousness from that traumatic event.

Since we can't ask the dog if that's going on, if the heart rate's up, respiration's up, the dog's drooling, it's panting and it's the middle of winter, that dog is clearly a distressed dog.

Sometimes we need to use medications, just like in people that helps bring that level of distress down so that we can actually work with them.

- With Paco in particular, the gunfire probably reminds him of some of the gunfights that they were in.

While he's playing, we'll start the gunfire far away and then slowly work its way in to where the dog won't show any effects anymore.

[gun blasts] - Good boy, stay.

[gun blasts] Good boy.

Yeah, come here.

[dog panting] - Imagine the trauma that these dogs feel.

They bond with a human being.

They somehow survive and they come home and they're ripped apart from the one stable being in their lives just so they can be trained again, bond with another human, go over.

I think, you do your service, you go home, and you live a good, peaceful life wherever you go.

- A lot of these soldiers ought to be allowed to bring these dogs home.

I've seen some bad things where I saw an army dog at a very fancy hotel in New York.

There was some big function.

A lot of top brass, as the army would say, was there.

And it was a young kid, a soldier, and he had a German Shepherd that had most of its tail missing.

And I asked the kid what happened to his dog's tail and he said he bit it off.

Well, I think some of these dogs are staying in too small kennels for too long and just kind of going stir crazy.

[gentle acoustic music] - I had heard stories of this dog becoming very, very aggressive and I talked to his previous handler when he deployed with Enzo and he told me about an artillery round that went off.

I think he said 50 to 75 feet away from him and once that happened, Enzo developed PTSD.

He was dreadfully scared of gunfire or loud explosions.

He started to bite handlers, he started to get quarantined a lot.

This dog was so aggressive and so hard hitting that a lot of people didn't want to work with him.

His hit was like an NFL line backer.

If you can imagine him taking you down plus the strength of his jaws, it's pretty bad.

[dog barking] He was locked up for six, seven months at the time with no human contact.

You gotta imagine, that's pretty hard, to see everybody else being taken out, everybody else going to work or getting out into the world and you're just there.

[grunts] Oh my God.

I've always loved dogs.

I've always felt like I knew what a dog was thinking or how to react around a dog.

My mom used to make fun of me and call me Dr. Doolittle and things like that.

Very first day, I went and I just sat by his fence.

We stared at each other the entire time.

From that point on, we had that respect.

From what I was told, in order to put this dog back, you had to wet the floor, have a muzzle on him, so that when you took the stuff off he would slip and slide and not get back to you and you can hurry up and run out of the gate.

I don't do any of that.

I go in, I let him get a sip of water, I take his choke chain off, I look at him, he jumps on my arms.

I say, "Alright, I gotta go."

And I wave by and he looks at me all sad faced.

That's it.

[gentle music] All he wants to do is make me happy and get a little love from me, that's it.

The only way you can repay that is by trusting him and building that camaraderie together.

[gentle music] We were making progress but not fast enough to be able to certify.

But the army as a whole didn't want to say, "Okay, do we want to spend a year or two years on this dog "or do we want to put other dogs in that can hurry up and stand up and complete the mission."

The kennel master felt like he didn't want to take the risk of him possibly biting anyone else.

So, we had to put him down.

[gentle music] I felt like he still deserved a chance.

I had a crucial bond with Enzo.

He made you walk around and just feel like the alpha of the kennels because he had a history but he listened and he had 100% dedication to working.

You just had to know how to work him.

So that's what I loved about him.

[taps playing] - The most honorable trait that he had is how he stood by me.

Even as we were posted so very far away from back up and you take a fall.

[taps playing] He put his life in my hands and I trusted him with mine.

Unfortunately, everything that has a beginning has an end.

[slow dramatic music] [explosions booming] - I was on patrol in Afghanistan.

There is a firefight and we got to this enormous valley in between two mountains.

At that moment, it was too much for me.

I couldn't cover it all, I couldn't keep everybody safe.

I took the whole responsibility on myself and it was overwhelming.

I just felt that there were so many avenues we could get attacked from and there was no way I could control every situation and to me, that loss of control led to Pandora's box.

I started having issues with my anxiety, my mood, depression, everything just collapsed.

[bell ringing] There, I found dinner for tomorrow.

I'll become so overwhelmed with just the simplest task that I have panic attacks and I'll start breathing too fast.

I'll get sweaty.

- That's alright, 'cause they're all gone.

[Danielle] And that is why my family's been here and I've had the help that I've had because I, for once in my life, couldn't do it alone.

[bell ringing] - I didn't know what she was going through.

I really didn't know what PTSD was.

It took my wife and myself completely by surprise.

She seems to be doing a lot better now.

Will she ever get over it?

No.

You don't ever get over that.

They can treat it but you never get cured of it.

It's always there.

And it can always flare up.

With what she's been through, I think she's done remarkable.

- Good girl.

Shake.

Good girl.

My dogs are helping me heal more than any person could.

They're always there for me.

They can tell my moods.

They don't judge me.

Yes, good boys.

Oh, good boys.

Oh, good boys.

My dogs are just there to try and comfort me in any way they can.

Especially Block.

This one is with my dogs and their tattoo numbers and the years that I had them.

It's a wolf howling at a moon.

That's the grim reaper holding a canine.

I got dog paws with boots to represent canine and then there's a wolf coming out from a tree.

I've seen death, I've stared it in the face and I realize that tomorrow's not promised.

[gentle piano music] Block and I went through very tough situations and all we had was each other and now when he needs me, I'm here.

All's I can do is love him until the day he's not here anymore.

[bagpipe music] - There's only 13 states that currently recognize K-9 Veteran's Day.

There were so many people that came out to support what these dogs are and what they mean to everybody and give them a proper burial.

I really owe these dogs my life.

We are put in stressful situations that no human being should ever have to go through.

[gentle acoustic music] You go with having a dog for 24/7 for six, maybe nine months and then going home to an empty house.

I wake up now with night terrors.

- Instills into each of us all of what we are and what we will become.

[dogs barking] - I think we owe dogs more than what we give them.

They have to feel that they're life doesn't just end.

That they were here for a purpose and they're gonna meet us on the other side.

[gentle acoustic music] - Good boy buddy, good.

[gentle acoustic music] - Sergeant Radwan, welcome back.

It's good to have you here and to have your dog back with ya.

[laughs] We're proud of you.

- Sir.

- Good to see you again.

- Good to see you.

- The only thing I'm afraid of is he would go through separation anxiety.

You know, we slept in the same room for the past six months and all of a sudden I'm gone.

They'll lick themselves until they get sores on their paws.

[dogs barking] It is hard to see him in a kennel by himself.

I live my life and he stares at four walls and doesn't do anything, you know.

He's used to doing things everyday and following me everywhere I went and now he's not doing anything.

So I'm sure it takes a toll on a dog as well.

Don't be a wuss.

I know.

I know you don't like it.

Gotta go.

[dogs barking] [gentle acoustic music] ♪ ♪ Oh thank you, you're so nice.

Thank you pumpkin.

I decided to end my contract.

I missed out of so many things in her life.

This year is the only birthday that I was there for her.

We never spent Christmas together or Thanksgiving.

You know, you can make excuses for so long and after a while I'm afraid that she's gonna be like, "Hey, where were you when I needed you?"

So, are you gonna feed the big duckies or the small ones?

[girl] I wanna feed the small ones.

- It's still a shock for me to be here.

I find myself driving on the freeway 35 miles an hour, staring at the side of the road, looking for IEDs.

Part of me wants to stay, part of me wants to go back.

That's where my friends are and that's where my room is, my bed.

Dex is going to be in his prime still so he's gonna be employed and he's probably gonna be assigned a new handler, probably deploy again.

And I think he'll be happy doing what he does.

But, it's time for me to move on and... be more of a family man than a traveler.

We spend a lot of time looking at the sky and seeing sunset or sunrise or just hang out in the woods.

[gentle acoustic music] ♪ ♪ [Jennings] Block was retired for a little less than a year.

He lived a great life but it just got too hard for him in the end.

He developed cancer.

Block died in December of last year, December 22nd.

You're okay.

I won't let anything happen.

Gorgon was bred at Lackland.

She was part of the puppy program.

She was there for a few months and they decided that she was not capable of being a military working dog so she came home to me.

As we can see here, she could care less about one of the toys they are to use.

There we go, you want it?

[clucks] Tsssss.

She likes big toys that she can chase around the yard but she is very good at destroying them and so we buy one a week pretty much.

How about you both sit?

It's definitely different having a younger dog.

They have more energy, they need more attention.

Good girls.

We don't really cage her up.

We figure she was caged up too much at Lackland.

- Okay, well we know where that's at.

- Yeah, I'm gonna go through both of those boxes and take out the stuff that I'm keeping.

- Okay.

- I will be moving to Louisiana in the next week.

I'm getting the dogs ready and the house ready and I will start over and have a new civilian life.

I'll be looking for a job so that'll give me a better chance to adapt by having a sense of purpose.

It hopefully will be a less stressful life.

I will miss the army, I'll miss K-9, I'll miss the handlers, anything that reminds me of Fort Hood.

I have lived here for 10 years so it's a very big part of my life.

I would do it all again in a heart beat.

I would stand foot next to soldiers defending our country, I'd work dogs with anybody.

I would do it all over again.

Look at what I found.

- What?

Oh, where was that at?

- In mom's stuff.

- Oh.

- I'm gonna frame it.

Everybody says you don't forget your first love.

You will never forget your first dog or your last.

You're gonna remember all of them.

[gentle acoustic music] People are always going to be on top.

We have the communication, we have the technology.

I think all animals are capable of way more than we give 'em credit for.

We look at them and we see them as either food or pets.

We don't know what they're capable of.

That dog just saved your life and whoever is behind you.

You could've all been dead at that point but you know because of him or her, you're still here.

[gentle acoustic music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [gentle piano music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪