The enigmatic tail of Sonny, the bomb-sniffing dog

Canine combat vets suffer, too.

(A bomb-sniffing dog at Camp Leatherneck gets a little morning exercise)

The Wall Street Journal has this illuminating story on the trials and tribulations of bomb-sniffing dogs in Afghanistan.

I had my own experience with a British bomb-sniffing spaniel named Sonny in Helmand Province. Sonny accompanied a group of Brits and Yanks from Minnesota on a convoy.

He was particularly touchy if people approached him. Word from his handler was that if Sonny (it may have been Sunny but that would have been worse) took a nip out of one more person his military career was kaput. Sonny snarled at me as I walked past.

During the convoy, an IED went off in front of the truck I was in. The gunner in my vehicle, Sgt. Pat Rix, from Duluth, saw something flipping over in the air from the explosion and was sure it was Sonny the Bomb-Sniffing Dog taking one for the team. It turns out it was just a blade from a mine detection vehicle.

Sonny had been spared.

On a more positive note, there is this recent dispatch from London:

UK bomb-sniffing dog honored with military medal

LONDON — A 9-year-old black Labrador named Treo is being decorated for his work sniffing out explosives in Afghanistan.

He is being given Britain's Dicken medal, awarded for bravery and commitment in wartime. It's the highest military honor an animal can get.

It has been presented to 63 animals since its inception in 1943 — including 32 World War II carrier pigeons, three horses and a cat.

Treo and his handler Sgt. Dave Heyhoe made the rounds of the morning talk shows Wednesday ahead of the award ceremony at London's Imperial War Museum.