National Dog Week

"The world likes dogs because dogs are nearest to moral perfection of all living things." ~ Captain Will Judy, founder of National Dog Week.

Remember that!

In honor of our special week, I thought ya'll might like to read 'bout some real hero dogs. 'Course all canines are heroes. Some are just more heroic than others. And definitely more heroic than fe-lyings!

So, first--for my cousins and the Grouchy Old Yorkie Lady--here's a little somethin' 'bout Smoky, the 4 pound Hero of WWII.

"[20-year-old PFC Bill] Wynne said another soldier in his unit found the tiny terrier in a foxhole in the New Guinea jungles [in 1944]. How she got there is anyone's guess. But she was starving.

"The guy who found her really didn't like dogs all that much. He needed money to stay in a poker game so I bought her from him for two Australian pounds,'' Wynne said. Smoky, as the tiny terrier came to be know, was a super-talented critter and a much-loved mascot for Wynne's unit, an Army Air Force photo reconnaissance squadron. She entertained wounded troops in hospitals. "She was one of the first therapy dogs on record,'' he said.

"Wynne said Smoky's great service was in pulling a string through a long and small drain pipe under a busy fighter plane airfield that allowed a communications line to be set up under the field without ever disrupting traffic on the field. "Only a tiny and rather courageous dog could have done it,'' he said.

"Smoky died in 1957…"

From the Yorkie Rescue site.

posted by Harrison at 11:30 PM