These 3 mischievous pups came to our attention recently and after Nowzad Dogs heard their story we had to step in and try to help.

Here is Dirty Joe and MRE’s (pronounced Marie) story in their owners words.

”Our unit arrived in Afghan in Nov. 2009 and was spread between 3 Combat Outposts (COPs). At each COP there were a couple dogs that had been living with the previous unit. One of the dogs had 5 puppies, about 1-2 months before we arrived in Afghanistan. When my section arrived at our location, Joe was staying there. About a month after our arrival, our command told us Joe had to go and we were to send the dog to another COP during a routine convoy for resupply. Two days after Joe was dropped off at the COP, another resupply convoy brought Joe back along with MRE (pronounced Marie). Most of our command was unhappy with the dogs being around, but our Commanding Officer is a big dog lover, so he was able to keep the peace.

MRE was sent to one of the other COPs a few weeks later only to find her way back. Dirty Joe and MRE are the last two that have made it through our deployment. We have been forced to leave/take the dogs somewhere away from our unit and every time, they have found their way back to us – even swimming the Helmand River to do this!”

Here is Hanks story from the soldier that looked after him.

”At the beginning of the deployment I was stationed at one of the control points outside of our camp. Every day the local Afghans would pass through the checkpoint on their way to the bazaar. One of the ”regulars” was a little kid who would talk to us. We had a good relationship and he mentioned he had some puppies. He came back the next day with a one month old puppy who was the runt of the litter. I paid $10 for him. When we got him he was sick, dehydrated and couldn’t stand up on his own. I took care of him and got him back to good health. Hank has been living with us ever since. At the time we bought him, it was winter, so to keep him warm I’d put him inside my jacket pocket. Myself and my platoon have a lot of good memories with Hank. He has been the one thing that makes us feel “normal” and has made this deployment a lot easier.”

Nowzad Dogs took on the mammoth task of attempting to transport these three morale boosting dogs to the safety of the Afghan shelter and then onward to the US.

What nobody had even considered would happen was that the driver would forget to secure the rear door of the truck where the dogs were hidden. When the driver arrived at the shelter the dogs were long gone. Where they are in Afghanistan we do not know. We can only hope that one day they will make it back to the forward operating base as they have done so many times in the past.

Nobody said this charity would always be successful but it still never prepares us for the rescues that don’t work.