Puppy Rescue Mission

We all love our dogs. They're part of our family. My two mutts are pampered puppies that bang on their crates when they're ready to get up and greet me at the door each evening. Even on the worst day, they make me smile and warm my heart. They're spoilt rotten, but I couldn't imagine leaving them behind or giving them up.

If you were a soldier in Afghanistan or Iraq and you befriended a dog while you were there, could you walk away and leave your friend behind?

I'd never heard of Puppy Rescue Mission until a lady in my Yoga class, who is a volunteer for PRM, was talking about picking up a dog at the airport.  She told me to go to their Facebook page and take a look. There I saw soldiers cuddling dogs. Their page says, "It's so funny how something as simple as a puppy can make even the hardest, toughened soldier melt upon a few kisses to the face." PRM's mission is to help soldiers bring their battle buddies home."

Never having been in war, I couldn't imagine a soldier finding a dog in a strange country and becoming attached to that dog. But after you think about it, it makes perfect sense. You're experiencing the most stress you'll ever experience, going out on patrol not knowing if you'll return. Away from home and the people you love in a strange land surrounded by people who are in the same stressful situation.

Then you find two puppies abandoned in a ditch soaking wet and shivering from the cold. They're so young you don't know if they'll survive, but the thought of watching something else die, is heartbreaking. So you wrap them up in a blanket, keep them warm and dry and feed them baby formula taken from the Med-Station. While on guard duty, every few hours a soldier would feed the small babies.

With all the love and attention given to the puppies, the dogs Athena and Carl, have grown. They've doubled in size and begun to eat solid food. They're playful and fun, Athena terrorizes Carl who likes to cuddle. These two puppies have helped raise the morale and given twenty-five soldiers something to smile about. But they don't want to leave them behind. They want to bring them home to America.

This is just one story. There are so many stories of dogs that have helped our solders. No, they're not military dogs, but rather dogs that have befriended our soldiers and made their lives a little happier while they were away from home.

Could you go off and leave your dog behind when you went home? Puppy Rescue Mission raises funds to help soldiers bring the dogs home. Many of the animals come home before the soldier does and they are taken in by foster families, or the soldier's family takes care of the dog until he/she returns home.   http://www.thepuppyrescuemission.org/home

Animals bring us joy. They make us forget about the stress in our lives and are members of our families. Petting your dog for five minutes will lower your blood pressure. They soothe us and make us smile. Can you imagine the joy these special dogs, must bring our solders?

Please go to Puppy Rescue Mission on facebook or their website and make a donation. It costs thousands of dollars to bring a dog home. This Christmas ten percent of the sales from The Reluctant Santa http://www.amazon.com/The-Reluctant-Santa-ebook/dp/B009TGLJHE will be donated to Puppy Rescue Mission.

Tell me how much joy your dog or cat brings you. Everyone who leaves a comment will be entered into a drawing for a 2013 Puppy Rescue Mission Calendar. Hurry home to America, Athena and Carl.