The article was brought to my attention by Julie back in England who sent me the above link.
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A Marine Died In Battle, But What His Dog Did After The Funeral? I’m Speechless!
A dog is the only thing on earth who loves you more than he loves himself – so imagine a soldier dog’s mourning when his handler dies in the line of duty!
Max, a feature film by the producers of the doggie classic Marley and Me, intends to explore a soldier dog’s journey that doesn’t end with this heartbreaking image of a pup chasing down his fallen brother, but rather begins with it.
Max, a precision-trained military dog, loses his handler Kyle in Afghanistan. Max is too troubled to continue to fight, and the only human willing to take the dog in is the late Kyle’s little brother, Justin. Fortunately, Justin is able to relate to the troubled pup because he has problems of his own.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen military dogs do great things after their time serving our country overseas – and I’m sure it won’t be the last.
Watch the trailer for the full-length feature below, and tell us in the comments: Would you watch the film Max?
Please SHARE this powerful story of a soldier dog’s heroic journey after war with all of your friends! Military dogs deserve to be treated like heroes both during and after wartime.
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OK, it’s a plea for people to watch the film and, frankly, why not!
Max, a Malinois used to help U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, is handled by Kyle Wincott (Robbie Amell) (Marine MWD). Kyle is questioned when weapons seized by his squad go missing. Realizing his friend Tyler Harne (Luke Kleintank) is among those involved with the shady dealings, he warns Tyler that he cannot cover for him. The two then go into the battlefield with their squad, with Max on point. While advancing on a suicide bomber, Max is injured by an explosion. In the ensuing gunfight, Kyle is shot and killed.
Kyle’s brother Justin (Josh Wiggins), who makes money selling illegally copied video games, their mother Pamela (Lauren Graham) and their father Ray (Thomas Haden Church) are informed of his death. After Kyle’s body is brought home for burial, the other Marines notice that Max is only calm when he is around Justin, apparently sensing that he is Kyle’s brother. The family adopts the dog, who would otherwise be euthanized for his disturbed behavior. Justin initially wants little to do with Max but eventually warms up to him. While meeting up with his friend Chuy (Dejon LaQuake), Justin meets Chuy’s cousin Carmen (Mia Xitlali), who offers to go to his house and show him some handling tricks for Max. Little by little, Max’s behavior improves around other people.
Tyler visits the Wincott’s one evening, provoking an aggressive response by Max. Later, after the Fourth of July, Ray asks Tyler what really happened. Tyler implies that Max turned on Kyle and caused him to discharge his weapon on himself, leading to his death. Justin decides to investigate the matter. Calling on one of Kyle’s old friends, Sergeant Reyes, for help, he is given a DVD of Kyle training Max that moves him to tears.
There is also a movie trailer on YouTube; presented here for you.
Whatever one thinks about this specific film, or films like this in general, that doesn’t alter the fact that all of us who live with dogs understand the capacity of dogs to offer unconditional love to us.
Six days after Mexico City was ravaged by an earthquake, there seemed little hope of finding anyone alive among the rubble.
But a Japanese rescue team was thrilled to find one more tiny survivor — a schnauzer, who they managed to pull from the ruins of a collapsed apartment building.
The lucky dog was checked out by vets, and had somehow managed to remain in good health. Authorities now hope to reunite the schnauzer with her family as soon as possible.
Thank you to rescuers who travelled from around the world to save lives — both human and animal — in the wake of this tragic disaster.
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The video and news item was carried by the New York Post and for reasons I am unsure about I couldn’t include the video in this post. But you can view that video by going here. Luckily other newspapers carried the wonderful event and the following photograph appeared in The Independent newspaper two days ago.
A schnauzer dog who survived the quake is pulled out of the rubble from a flattened building by rescuers in Mexico City 24 September. ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images
My guess is that dogs and humans have been saving each other for thousands of years and long may it continue.
The first weekend of this month saw Jeannie and me in Chicago. Then back home in Merlin, earlier this week, half-an-inch of rain fell to break a long spell of dry weather. I went out last Thursday morning to capture some sights of the first misty morning of Autumn. The contrast between our rural home and Chicago was dramatic; to say the least! Enjoy!
(P.S. I sensed there was no need to describe each photograph in terms of which one was taken in Merlin or in Chicago!)
Jean and I were invited to Chicago this last weekend, actually Friday through Sunday, to support a charity that does a great deal of work saving dogs in many countries. (Will write more about this great charity soon.)
So we flew out, via San Francisco, from our local Medford airport last Thursday returning on Monday. The long week-end was not without a few challenges!!
I hadn’t been back to Chicago in nearly 30 years and found it a bit of a shock to the system.
So going to leave you for today with two photographs of the other side of city life!