“The dog is a gentleman; I hope to go to his heaven, not man's”
~ Mark Twain
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A few weekends ago I received an email from an old friend (maybe I said that wrong, how about from a long time friend...) with "help needed" in the subject line. Now I knew this wasn't a job opening so what could it be?
Well, I was right and wrong... it wasn't about employment, more to do with deployment really.
This friend has a daughter and this daughter (whom I have known since she was 3) is stationed with the US Army in Afghanistan.
The soldiers in her company found a puppy, discarded in the locals' trash/burn pile. And needless to say, they rescued the pup. They nursed it back to health but now Toby's caretaker is leaving and my friend's soldier-daughter asked her to help rescue the dog back to the U.S.
That's where the "help needed" email to me comes in.
So I spent my Saturday reading about and researching Afghanistan dog rescue. Some of the stories had me all weepy-eyed... I love dogs. 99% more than I do people, generally speaking. Being an old Wildlife Rehabilitation guy I know how rough critters can have it out there. Owning dogs off and on throughout my life established an appreciation for our canine friends that is now grown to genuine love.
My work takes me in an out of people's homes. A lot of those people own dogs and I have to acquaint myself with their pets because I'm spending time working in their houses. Some of those dogs I've been seeing for years and they're always tail-wagging happy to see me when I return. Heart warming... truly heart warming.
Anyways... I tracked down the two orgs I would need - Guardians of Rescue and Novzad.
Guardians of Rescue is getting the dog back to the states where he will stay with them until daughter-soldier returns to the US and then Toby will be her and her 3 sons' dog.
But rescuing dogs from logistically challenged locations isn't free. We need to raise $3,000.
Do you love dogs? Do you love or support our soldiers? then think about donating to Toby's cause. We've come this far, Toby is in Kabul now, in a kennel. He's a big boy and in the world of shipping and receiving that means weight...
And consider... if you donate you'll be helping the kennel in Kabul -
Nowzad and the good folks at Guardians of Rescue who are handling transportation logistics, will house and train Toby until his soldier-friend comes home sometime this winter.
So please... help Toby, help our GIs with something that very much matters as something very important to the quality of their lives in the midst of war. Please donate what you can, whether it's $5, $10 or $500...
Save Toby!
Oh... and I mentioned Toby's a big boy? Take a peek at exactly how big this 6 month old is:
Now if that's not a whole lotta puppy love...
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“A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.”
~ Robert Benchley
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Toby and his friends
