comScore
  1. Mediaite
  2. Gossip Cop
  3. Geekosystem
  4. Styleite
  5. SportsGrid
  6. The Mary Sue
  7. The Jane Dough
  8. The Braiser

And All Was Right With the World

Marine Will Get to Adopt the Dog Who Was by Her Side When She Was Injured in Iraq

by Jamie Frevele | 11:47 am, March 21st, 2012


Back in 2006, former Marine Cpl. Megan Leavey was serving in Ramadi, Iraq when she was injured by a blast from an improvised explosive device. By her side was a military work dog, a German shepherd named Rex, with whom Leavey had formed a true bond. Such dogs don’t actually have owners, and Leavey soon filed for the right to adopt Rex. Letters were written to high-ranking officers, a petition circulated the nation, and now Leavey will be able to bring Rex home with her.

After an honorable career as a military dog, Rex had reached the ripe old dog age of 10 years old. Because he could no longer serve, there were plans to put Rex to sleep. But Leavey, who worked with Rex to search for IEDs before one of them injured her, didn’t want to see that happen. She felt that the dog deserved to live out the rest of his days in a loving home, and who better to spend it with than a fellow soldier?

While adopting military work dogs is not against Marine rules, it’s not exactly a priority. However, 10 years old is considered “pretty up there” in dog years, and Rex was running out of time. Leavey’s campaign spread fast, with 20,000 people signing the petition, and New York Senator Chuck Schumer worked with her to cut through the red tape and get Rex into her home.

Back in 2007, after Leavey had recovered from her injuries (concussion, burst blood vessels in her ears), was when she first tried to adopt Rex. But at the time, Rex was still fit to serve, so the Marines kept him in their employ. Her adoption requests were denied. Then, earlier this year, Leavey found out that Rex was showing signs of his age. However, the dog was still considered a “fierce” animal, and possibly not fit for adoption. But Leavey was convinced that she’d provide a good home for her former companion, and she reached out to Sen. Schumer, who lobbied on her behalf. Rex’s handler, Mike Dowling, who wrote about Rex in his book Sergeant Rex, also supported the adoption.

And now, in just a matter of days, Leavey and Rex will be reunited. President of the New York Yankees Randy Levine and his wife Mindy will be paying for Leavey’s travel expenses (Rex is currently in California, Leavey is in New York) and will help cover Rex’s medical bills.

And there is your feel-good story of the day, complete with puppy adoption.

(via LoHud.com, One Marine’s View)

TAGS: | |


  • http://robot23.blogspot.com/ Jinxy Blastwave

    That’s my man Chuck.  Good man right there.  Helped my Mom get an emergency passport once.  He was less important then.  Very sweet story.  Anyone else find it kind of horrifying that the go-to move was to put the dog down when it was too old to serve?  Who makes the call to put them down?  That sounds like a terrible job.

  • Life Lessons

    I think this should happen all of the time and the dogs should not be put down unless no one wants them. I think these dogs should be thanked just like the humans who serve. I also think any animal that befriends a soldier on duty should be able to go home with him/her. Huzzah to this story!

  • http://twitter.com/pathar pathar

    Let’s just hope Rex doesn’t fly Delta.

  • John Wao

    Bless them both.

  • http://www.facebook.com/1shewolf JoAnna Luffman

    As a military dog, he isn’t trained to be a pet. He’s trained to, on command, be potentially viscous. While Cpl. Leavy probably knows how to handle the dog, I would not, and Rex would be a potential danger. 

    Imagine if this story was not Dog saved, but dog was adopted and attacked someone. 

  • http://robot23.blogspot.com/ Jinxy Blastwave

    I mean, I get that, vicious Rambo dogs running around loose probably isn’t a sound strategy for avoiding getting your face bitten off.  But we made them that way.  We taught them every day, ok buddy, go bite that face, rawr! and then when they’re slightly less good at biting faces or sniffing bombs, we kill them?  That’s not right at all.  We could build them an island right, leave all the oldish Army dogs on the island, come back in a couple thousand years and we’ve got like hyper intelligent dog people waiting for us.  I don’t know about you, but I’m writing Chuck.  He’ll take care of it.

    But yes, if soldiers who can handle the dogs safely would like to adopt them, maybe we can skip the dog island.  I know money’s tight, and asking the Pentagon to set up a system to arrange placement for these dogs wouldn’t be free, but it’s the kind of thing we should be doing, no?

  • Brian Carcich

     Viscous?  As in, high resistance to shear stresses?

X