Report: Army mishandled bomb-sniffing dogs from Afghanistan

WASHINGTON – A report finds that the Army failed to do right by some of the more than 200 bomb-sniffing dogs that served with U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, detecting roadside bombs and saving lives.

The Defence Department's inspector general has determined that, after the program ended in 2014, some soldiers struggled or were unable to adopt the dogs they had handled.

This included two dogs among 13 that were given to a private company to be used as service dogs for veterans but then abandoned at a Virginia kennel.

The report says Congress amended the law in 2015 to give handlers top priority in adopting their dogs.

The inspector general also faults the military for not properly screening those adopting the dogs, including law enforcement agencies and private individuals.

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Shelby Thevenot

Shelby has lived across Canada. She grew up near Winnipeg, Manitoba then obtained her B.F.A in Multidisciplinary Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta. In 2014 she moved to Montreal, Quebec to study French and thrived in the Visual Journalism Graduate Diploma program at Concordia University. Now she works at iNFO News where she strives to get the stories that matter to the Okanagan Valley community.

Member of:

The Professional Writers Association of Canada

Quebec Writers Federation

English Language Arts Network