Army Dog Retires with Handler After Years Apart

Mather and Nouska the Army Dog served together in Iraq together for about a year before Mather’s service was over and her came home. Since Nouska was still young enough and in good shape she was kept out in the field being passed from handler to handler as their tours of duty ended. See military dogs don’t just serve 1 or 2 tours of duty like their human handlers. Military dogs are so expensive and the training they go through is so intense and so expensive that they generally work until they are 10 years old or beyond. At least in recent years the military has agreed to allow these dogs to be retrained and retire with any of the number of their handlers they have worked with. Nouska herself started her career in the army in 2001 while Mather served 2 tours starting in 2003 before he was discharged.

Stationed in Anspach, Germany, Nouska served as as an EDD, or Explosive Detector Dog. From there Nouska and her handler of the moment were sent to Iraq together to look for explosives. They could be called into work at any time of the day or night to sniff out bombs left as traps in the road or to sniff out warehouses and homes though to have bombs inside. Someone would then be sent in to deactivate the bombs saving countless military and civilian lives.

In order to adopt Nouska Mather, his wife, and son had to fly to Germany where she was stationed and meet with her since the military would not even fly her back to the US her life would have ended in Germany on the military base. While she was a military working dog she was not allowed to play with the children on the base or be around them much so there was apprehension about that as much as Mather wanted her to retire with him. With the help of the private nonprofit Military Working Dogs Adoption the family was able to go out and visit with Nouska to make sure she would be able to handle living in a house with a child. Their hope was that things would work out because the only other option was that now that Nouska was discharged she would be put to sleep because the military would only allow her former handlers to adopt her and I believe the handler adopting the discharged dog must themselves no longer be on active duty. Things worked out and Nouska the former Army Dog is now a happy honorably discharge family dog living out her golden years at the Jersey Shore.

Military dogs are seen as a commodity and afforded no real luxury by the military when they are on active duty. They receive food and water a roof over their heads and specialized jackets in order to carry out their jobs but the military does not provide treats, toys, a comfortable bed, or even a medical kit to help patch up a wound they might receive while on duty. Which means that now that Nouska is living the life of a family pet there are a lot of new experiences she will be encountering like playing ball, swimming, sleeping on her own comfortable bed, and getting regular treats. For a 12 year old dog retired Army Dog who has lived a pretty rough life searching for and detecting explosives in Iraq a quite family life will take some getting used to.