Soldier Dogs, the Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes – Book Review

Soldier Dogs, the Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes. Maria Goodavage. New American Library (division of Penguin Books), 2012. 293 pages, 28 photographs, Softcover. $16.00 Soldier Dogs, the Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes, provides an insightful look at the dogs serving in today’s US military. The author, Maria Goodavage, provides background on the history of military working dogs (MWDs), their selection, training, war service, and postwar fates. Although dogs are the main characters in the book, the human handlers are equally important. Individual vignettes of dogs and handlers highlight the strong bonds between men and women and their furred charges. Soldier Dogs, the Untold Story of America’s Canine Heroes, shows how these dogs are recruited and trained, and what they face today on the modern battlefield. Cairo, the Navy Seal dog that was on the mission NEPTUNE SPEAR (the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011) merits a brief paragraph that clears up some misconceptions about his exact role—but also leaves much shrouded, as special-operation dog roles...