UPDATE 10/23/08 – Ratchet’s a Hit in Minneapolis – VIDEO

Update 10/20/08 – Iraqui Puppy Ratchet Hits US Soil – Video

Update 10/19/08 – Ratchet is on his Way Home!!!

UPDATE 10/15/08 - Operation Baghdad Pup’s Flight Left Iraq…. Without Ratchet!

Update 10/13/08 – Ratchet Found! Was Stuffed in a Freezer

See Update 10/13/08 – Where’s Ratchet Now?

See Update 10/12/08 – Contact Information

See Update 10/9/08

Whether I support the war in Iraq or not is immaterial. What I do support are our troops, our men and women in the military fighting and often giving their very lives. I support them and respect them. No, they’re not all worthy of that respect but in general, I give them my support and offer my prayers for their safe return home.

Now, what does this have to do with dogs you may ask? You’ve probably heard of Operation Baghdad Pups. The SPCA along with volunteers works to bring home dogs and cats that our soldiers have taken under their care. Their motto, “No Buddy Left Behind” says it all!

We all know the love and loyalty of our own pets. We know often the very salvation they offer us. Imagine what they do for our soldiers, thousands of miles from home, living amid death and war and horrific conditions that we cannot even begin to fathom.

To say that these dogs and cats are a lifeline is probably far too weak and pallid a description. Often, I am sure, they give these soldiers a reason to live and something to love in a place where there is so little for them.

Now imagine living in this hostile environment, stuck for months far beyond what you were supposed to be deployed for. You’re living in hell every day and just surviving is beyond a struggle.

This was the life of one of our American soldiers in Iraq, Sgt. Gwen Beberg. But Gwen found a lifeline along the way, a tiny little ball of fur she named Rachet. Gwen has been held in Iraq by the stop-loss policy for over 15 months longer than her original commitment to the military and Ratchet has been one of the things that kept her going day after day.

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Looks like another city will be voting today whether to jump on the BSL bandwagon or not. Ridgeland’s Board of Alderman is considering a breed ban and today will decide whether or not pitbulls and Rotweillers will no longer be allowed in the city.

It seems the more people fight against BSL and try to show that it’s not the breed of the dog that is the danger but the owner, more idiots get these dogs and turn them into the very thing that ‘proves’ the media’s point.

The media and BSL proponents pull out statistics that show pitbulls cause the most bites and deaths but what the statistics don’t show is that the pitbull population and popularity grows more and more every day as idiots and thugs and gangster wannabes attain ownership of these breeds to make up for their own lack. They turn them into weapons and then them to wreak havoc.

And the ones who suffer are the responsible dog owners, the dogs themselves and of course those in the ‘line of fire’ when these dogs are let out of control.

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As one soldier deals with the trauma of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he’s finding the treatment he needs from an unlikely source. Once again a canine companion proves that dogs are far beyond being ‘just a dog.’

Trained service dog gives retired Sgt. Jim Mason a new leash on life after his years in the military and the the real life nightmares he lived in both Gulf wars and in Somalia – especially Somalia – where his unit was ambushed while trying to provide humanitarian aid.

The cliché is that a dog is man’s best friend. The reality is, Yankee’s a lot more to Jim Mason. He’s indispensable.

If not for their family dog, Buddy, Jason and Heather Breiding of Paducah, Kentucky, may have lost one of their most precious treasures, their one-year-old daughter, Samara.

Jason was cooking when a grease fire broke out. All he thought about was getting the fire extinguished since it didn’t seem too bad.

“I was trying to do anything I could to put it out, that’s what was going through my mind,” said Jason Breiding.

As Jason was fighting the fire, his wife, Heather, grabbed their three-month-old son and got him outside to safety. Jason thought that their daughter, Samara, was also with his wife and son when went to escaped the house but she was still in the now blazing house and so was their family dog, Buddy.

That’s when Buddy became the family hero.

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