Six weeks ago, Army Spc. Alec Alcoser, 22, and his working dog, Alex, were on patrol just outside Bagram Airfield, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan when a young man approached.

According to the San Antonio Express-News, two Afghan and three Czech soldiers stepped between Alcoser and the young Afghan to conduct a search. Alcoser called Alex back, bending down to get a cigarette. Then, a flash. Alex yelped. A firefight erupted. The dog and the soldier stayed together.

“I would yell at him and his ears would twitch, but he wouldn’t look at me,” Alcoser said in the Army Times. He calls San Antonio home. “I think he was in a state of shock. He didn’t growl, he didn’t bark, he didn’t cry. He stayed right there.”

Last week, the pair were reunited at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System’s Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center. Alcoser was emotional. Alex licked his face. The last time they had seen one another they were in Washington, D.C., where both received the Purple Heart.

This time, though, if all goes as planned, the pair will be together for good.

Alcoser was 6.5 months into a nine-month deployment when the suicide bomber attack occurred. On days off, they shared a bed. On duty days, they shared rituals.

“On a day with a mission, we’d wake up, I would give him a doggie treat and I would have some ice cream before we went out, and when we got back, we usually slept,” Alcoser recalled.

“That was a normal day for me and Alex out there,” he said, adding that a taste for sweets was born of his association with troops in special operations forces. “It was kind of their thing to eat a sweet because you never know if that’s going to be your last when you go out.”

The Aug. 5 left Alcoser with shrapnel wounds, broken bones and a mild traumatic brain injury, but doctors say he escaped without any loss in cognitive ability. Alex lost his back left leg. Both are learning how to get around again.

The shrapnel wounds cover about 30 percent of Alcoser’s body, most in his lower extremities. Its emergence is a slow and painful process. Both his arms and legs were broken, among other bones. He uses a cane or a walker. Alex limps sometimes, too.

There are goals to reduce the vet’s dependence on pain meds and in time get him well enough to start work at the Center for the Intrepid at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston.

“They’re estimating about four to six months, and so I’m already a month and almost half in, and I’m already walking, so I think I’m going to beat that time,” he said. “Either way, the doctors say I have a pretty good chance of making a full recovery, and that’s all that matters. I’ve got to get back to my dog. That’s the important part.”

Multiple surgeries over the past several weeks make medical memories hazy. There is lots of rehab in his future. Alex, who is 8 and a half, was trained to detect explosives and corner suspects who try to run and hide, doesn’t realize he’s retired.

He tried to search a car after arriving at Audie Murphy VA Hospital.

“When they’re old and retired, they still don’t know they’re not supposed to work,” said Regina Johnson, a retired Army dog handler who works in the Defense Department’s DoD Military Working Dog Breeding Program at Lackland.

Alcoser is not daunted by the frustrations of learning to walk again. He has wife, Misty, and an infant son. His mother, who lives in Houston, drives to the hospital to visit every weekend. In time, he’d like to return to his post at Fort Drum, New York. He’d like to be a Sergeant one day.

He thinks on fallen brothers often. The Afghans and Czechs took the worst of what the suicide bomber brought. Though the former survived, the Czechs were killed instantly.

“There’s no point in being mad or sad or anything like that. I’ve got to live through the people who died for me, so they give me a lot of strength,” he said. “And Alex ain’t complaining, so I don’t think I should, either. His injuries are a little worse than mine,” Alcoser said.

“A lot of people call him a dog, but I think he’s a little more than that. He’s a soldier.”

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Years ago, police in Ontario rescued 31 sickly dogs from a suspected fighting operation. They were pit bulls, a “breed” long since banned in this Canadian province, but they were also evidence in a court case, so they were remanded to an undisclosed shelter while a court determined what would happen.

As often goes in the realm of the legal, they waited a long time.

The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) pressed for all of them to be put down, arguing that as they had only known violence, they were a lost cause.

Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary, however, asked for the dogs to be released into their care, where they could be rehabilitated and eventually find their way to real families.

Along the way, one of the dogs who had arrived to the shelter pregnant, added 8 new puppies to the controversy.

Finally, in July of 2017, a judge made a ruling. The dogs (except for one deemed too dangerous and two who died while in custody) would be released into rescue and hit the long road to rehabilitation.

One of the roads led all the way to Jacksonville, FL, where 14 of the dogs landed in the care of a rescue called Pit Sisters. A few of them were from the litter born at the shelter.

“They only knew a shelter life,” Jen Deane, founder of Pit Sisters, told Mother Nature Network.

In early assessments, one of those puppies — a dog named Dallas — drew attention.

“The more we worked with him, the more we thought he should be a police dog,” Deane said.

So trainers spent a few days testing him and they eventually connected with someone from the Throwaway Dogs Project, a Philadelphia organization specializing in dogs often seen as beyond help — and turning them into police dogs.

Dallas, of course, was just a pup. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but rather was guilty by association — for his breed.

Throwaway Dogs founder Carol Skaziak, along with a team of behaviorists, headed to Jacksonville, where they spent several days testing Dallas.

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“The first thing I saw in Dallas was a very lovable dog that enjoyed being around humans,” Skaziak told MNN. “Then what I saw was a dog that had extreme play drive.”

It’s a skill Skazniak looks for in candidates for the program.

“Believe it or not, I feel that if we were on top of the Empire State Building, and we threw the ball over the edge, he would go after the ball.”

Not the best quality for a family pet, but for police dogs, it’s essential.

“With every day that passed, I was becoming more and more in love with this dog,” Skaziak recalls. “I thought, ‘This is probably going to work out for us. This is a homerun.’”

But there was one crucial strike against Dallas: He was deathly afraid of cars — so much so that he couldn’t bring himself to get inside one.

On their way back to Pennsylvania, the trainers told Deane if Dallas could get over that fear, they would try to land him a job as a K9.

Not long afterward, Deane — a trainer with a gift for bringing out the best in dogs — sent Throwaway Dogs a video of Dallas jumping in and out of cars with unflinching enthusiasm.

Dallas was officially in the program.

Dallas the pit bull profile
Dallas is on his way to Pennsylvania to start training for his new job. (Photo: Pit Sisters)
Not long after that, Deane got a text message: A police department in Virginia had offered Dallas a job.

And all of a sudden, the dog who nearly never left that secret shelter in Ontario — a dog who was born a victim — will now spend the rest of his life standing up for them.

With a lot of people cheering for him along the way.

“We have a whole town that’s excited,” Skaziak says. “We’re just thrilled. We can’t wait to start training him.”

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Think you can’t do it?
Remember this sweet dog’s story and be inspired! ?

Thor’s rescue was made possible by the amazing people at The Real Bark Dog Rescue in Los Angeles.

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In January, we told you all about Kelly, the dog rescued — likely just days from death — on Utah’s unforgiving Bonneville Sand Flats.

Kelly was in such bad shape — malnourished and covered in sarcoptic mange to the point of scaly baldness — when a good Samaritan found her and brought her to where she could get the help she needed. Kelly, so named by the staff at the Utah Animal Adoption Center, has since been awash in love and recovering beautifully. And the world beyond the clinic staff has been watching and sending love (and toys!) every step of the way.

Right out of the gate, though, people wondered what breed or breeds she might be. Without fur, it was just about anyone’s guess.

And now DNA tests have given us all the answer: Kelly is 100 percent Brittany spaniel!

This was fun for those speculating, since the Utah Animal Adoption Center held a contest where fans made their best guesses — at least one person, FOX13 reported, was correct!

We wish Kelly continued success in her recovery as she gets healthy and ready for a forever home.

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This couple, newlyweds at the time of the Boston Marathon bombing, has grown and shared in ways only a very few of us can even imagine. Along the way, Rescue has helped make their ongoing journey not only easier, but more fun. And more “normal.”

A wonderfully inspirational piece from the Dodo.

Warning: Graphic Images

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Warning: Graphic Images

It doesn’t matter how much you’ve seen while working in dog rescue. No one could get used to this level of cruelty. That said, the shepherd-rottweiler mix Detroit Dog Rescue volunteers have named Courage is now safe and getting the care and love he needs.

The 3-year-old dog was discovered by Detroit Animal Control officers. He was gravely injured, his neck infected from the metal carabiner piercing his flesh. He was weighed down by a 15-pound tow chain.

“This isn’t something we normally see on the street — just carelessness for life,” Kristina Rinaldi, executive director of Detroit Dog Rescue, told FOX2 reporters after the organization took over the dog’s care on Monday. “It’s horrific.”

Authorities are investigating to find out who’s responsible; they hope to be able to press charges. In the meantime, Courage — so named for his sweetness and resilience in the face of such an ordeal, will recover. DDR is looking for a special foster who’s up to the task.

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“This needs to be a home with no children or other animals so he can decompress and we can care for him,” Rinaldi said Tuesday. “DDR will provide food and medical care. We just need someone to provide a loving home.”

Courage was rushed to Oakland Veterinary Referral Services in Bloomfield Hills. His necrotic tissue and heartworm were treated. Medical staff estimated Courage had been pinned for at least several weeks, Rinaldi said. “He was suffering in the cold, basically chained down with a metal piercing in his neck.”

Despite all, his personality shines.

“He is about the sweetest dog you will ever meet,” Rinaldi said. “He’s very happy. He came to us wagging his little nub of a tail and was very grateful someone rescued him. He’s warm and friendly with every doctor. He just has so much courage to go through this and come out on top with his personality like he does.”

Courage will need roughly six months of medical fostering before being permanently adopted. DDR was seeking $6,000 to cover his vet bills but on Tuesday, Bissell Pet Foundation offered to cover the treatment, Rinaldi said. However, “if anybody wants to donate, that money is going to go to any legal action on Courage’s behalf.”

To donate, visit Detroit Dog Rescue’s website.