Just a quick note to let you know that if you’re following and keeping up on the story of the soldier in Iraq, Sgt. Gwen Beberg, whose dog, Ratchet, was taken from her, updates are being posted to the original story – HERE.

I continue to get emails and requests for updates daily and as soon as get any new information, I will post it. This is a story that has definitely grabbed the heart of the nation and many around the world.

10/19/08 – An the latest update is that Ratchet is on his way home!!!

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

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

Think about how wonderful it is when you come home to have your dog greet you, how wonderfully excited they are, even if you’ve only been gone a short time. I know how my Jezzie and Bruti are, they both grab their favorite toys, run back and forth, turn in circles, Bruti howls around a mouth-full of tennis ball. It makes me feel like someone really special and wonderful and oh, so very loved!

Now imagine how it would be if you were returning after a long time, say you were a soldier in Iraq returning after a 14 month deployment… Check out the video, it brought tears to my eyes.

Dogs Greet Soldier Returning After 14 Months

Dogs… you just gotta love’em!

See Update – 10/22/08 – Man arrested and Charged

Neighbors on Prospect Street in Amsterdam, NY, are shocked and devastated over a discovery they made behind and abandoned house at number 82. Lyman Bartlett lifted a wooden slab and saw what looked like a pile of old blankets or something stuffed in a bag. Upon a closer inspection, what Bartlett actually found was a pitbull that had been mutilated and wrapped in sweaters then stuffed in a plastic plastic bag.

“We found that it had some paws severed. The tail had been severed. And there were several parts of its torso that appeared to have been burned with something like a blow torch,” said Sergeant Patrick Miller of the Amsterdam Police Department.

One neighbor, Chris Turnbull, is still shaken from the horror. “I never thought this would happen on our street. This neighborhood since we lived here is a great neighborhood. But then to come across the mutilated dog it, like, devastated us all on the street, that someone would do something like that to an animal,” she said.

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