After a life of training and combat, courageous canine soldiers need a great home. However, this can be difficult due to the perceived image of military dogs.

Smashing that perceived notion of military dogs is Layka, a heroic dog who was shot four times while serving in Afghanistan. She attacked the shooter and saved the lives of her handler, Staff Sgt. Julian McDonald, and the rest of the squad.

Due to the injuries she suffered, Layka lost her front right leg. To repay the amazing animal, McDonald filed the paperwork to adopt Layka. However, some people believed Layka would be too violent from her time at war to return to civilian life with McDonald and his family.

“She saved my life, that’s why I’m here. So I owed it to her to save her life,” McDonald says in a short film produced by National Geographic. “That’s why I adopted her, and that’s why I fought so hard to adopt her even though people say she’s too aggressive.”

As the video shows, Layka is amazing with McDonald’s young kids.

“If you bring them into a home environment, they will become a product of that environment,” says McDonald. “All animals learn to adapt and survive.”

McDonald hopes that more military dogs will be adopted by loving families and the image of these heroes is changed for the better.

“These dogs are just like our brothers,” he says. “I have a lot of respect for them, because they do stuff that I wouldn’t want to do.”

“Just like us, they deserve to be retired,” he adds. “Our hats go off to them.”



Layka was also featured on the June cover of National Geographic. Well-deserved if we do say so ourselves!

Hat tip to The Good News – Yahoo Shine.

Featured Image from here.