# A Few Outstanding Books



## WirelessG (Jan 22, 2013)

Over the last year, I've read several books about Military Working Dogs (MWD's) and I would recommend these to anyone, but especially GSD owners and owners of similar breeds. The titles I list are only the first part of the title. If the title format is xxxxxxx:yyyyy, I only post the xxxx part.

*Sargent Rex, by Mike Dowling.*

This is about a young Marine dog handler in Iraq 2004 and his GSD, Sgt Rex. What Sgt Rex is able to do and the lives that he saved can't be calculated, but it's fair to say that the total would be a lot. It gets 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon. 

*Trident K9 Warriors by Mike Ritland.*

Ritland is a former Seal dog handler and he now trains dogs for the military and some civilian applications. Most of the book has to do with how he selects and train dogs, which may seem a little on the boring side, but it's quite interesting. For example, he talks about taking the dogs fro a 500 yard swim off the beach in San Diego and what the dogs do when they can no longer see land. There are some mission stories that are interesting as well. I read this one twice. Note that Ritland has a second book called Navy Seal Dogs, but I believe it's more for young readers.

*None Came Home by Mike O'Donnell.*

This is about GSD handlers in Vietnam. It is a sad story, since only a handful of dogs were returned as the government considered them to be equipment. However, the story is fantastic. In fact, I'm surprise that Hollywood has not made this into a movie. I will caution you, it was published cheaply and there are a lot of grammar and spelling mistakes. However, the point of the book was to raise funds for the War Dog Memorial in DC, so it's understandable why it was not better proofed. I have this with a friend at the moment, but I plan to read it again.

*Always Faithful by William Putney.*

This book is about war dogs in the Pacific. At the time most of them were Dobermans. Putney was a line Officer in the Marines and because he was also a Veterinarian, they put him in charge of a War dog platoon (or company - I don't remember the size). It starts out in VA and NC with training and eventually they get over to Guam and see action. Great story.

If you like to read about dogs, none of these will disappoint you.


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