Marine reunited with his war dog

[thedrifter]

Marine reunited with his war dog


By Kristina Davis
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

March 23, 2008

CAMP PENDLETON – They spent months in an Iraqi war zone cementing a special bond.

But after more than a month apart, Marine Maj. Brian Dennis began to worry if Nubs the dog would still remember him, especially in a new place like San Diego.

Their reunion before dawn yesterday at Camp Pendleton clearly showed otherwise.

The 2-year-old dog, named for his two nubby ears, drenched Dennis' face with doggie kisses and said hello with excited whimpers.

“You remember that, huh?” Dennis said as he rubbed the dog's haunches.

Dennis, an F-18 pilot stationed at Miramar Marine Corp Air Station, was among about 150 Marines to return home from a seven-month tour in Iraq yesterday.

Among them was another group of Marines who also developed a case of canine crush in Iraq and rescued seven puppies. They reunited with their dogs that afternoon at Rancho Coastal Humane Society in Encinitas.

Nubs, a German shepherd/border collie mix, came to San Diego a month earlier after friends, family and strangers raised $3,500 for the dog's trip out of the border region between Iraq and Syria.

“It's almost like 'Lassie Come Home' in Iraq,” said Dennis' mother, Marsha Cargo, who anxiously waited for the unit's arrival in the wee hours of the morning.

Dennis met Nubs in al-Anbar province where the dog ran wild at an Iraqi border fort. When Nubs was a puppy, an Iraqi sliced off most of his ears in an attempt to make the dog tough and more alert. Hence, the name Nubs.

Another time, Nubs was stabbed with a screwdriver, and Dennis nursed him back to health.

When Dennis' unit, the Border Transition Team, moved camp 70 miles away, Nubs somehow tracked them to their new location two days later. It was against the rules to keep the dog in camp, and friends jumped in to bring Nubs to San Diego.

“Once he found us there, it seemed like this was supposed to have happened,” Dennis said. “After he walked all that distance, it seemed like he was supposed to end up in San Diego.”

For the past month, Eric Sjoberg, one of Dennis' Marine buddies, has been caring for Nubs along with Dennis' other dog, Bogey.

Nubs has also been learning new tricks and how to adjust in a different environment with some help from a dog trainer.

“After running two years out in the desert, he's got a personality on him,” Sjoberg said.

Dennis said his first outing with Nubs will be a jog on the beach.

“It will consummate the whole journey,” he said, “going from the sand of Iraq to the sand of San Diego.”

Kristina Davis: (760) 476-8233; kristina.davis@uniontrib.com


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Nubs Welcomes His Rescuer Home

By STEVE KORNACKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 23, 2008

Nubs thanked the man who saved his life: The German shepherd mix put his paws around the neck of Maj. Brian Dennis and licked his face.

"Nubs was a little nervous at first with all the people around us in the dark at Camp Pendleton," said Dennis, who was returning from Iraq with nearly 100 other Marines. "So I hit one knee and said, 'Hey, buddy, what's going on?' He went crazy and made that anxious, excited noise he makes when he wants you to keep petting.

"Everyone gathered around us said, 'Awwwww.' And then they laughed. It was such a happy, special moment."

The reunion at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday was another touching chapter in a story that began in October, when Dennis wrote in an e-mail to friends and family: "I found a dog in the desert that I want to take home. I call him Nubs."

"Not in a million years did I think that would ever happen when I wrote it," Dennis said in a phone interview. "I just threw it out there, but it ended up being foreshadowing for one crazy story."

Dennis, raised in St. Pete Beach, discovered Nubs five months ago in the ruins of an Iraqi fort near the Syrian border. The wild dog's ears had been crudely hacked off, a sad instance of abuse that nonetheless gave the mutt a charming name.

"That name is part of the attraction of Nubs," said Dennis' mother, Marsha Cargo of St. Pete Beach. "It's like Spuds MacKenzie."

Stabbed with a screwdriver by an Iraqi border police officer, Nubs had been left to die when 36-year-old Dennis and his men came upon him. Border Transition Team 3/5/2 nursed the dog back to health, with major and dog cuddling together on freezing nights so Dennis could keep his new friend warm.

"I thought he was going to die," Dennis wrote from Iraq in an e-mail to friends and family.

But Nubs made it.

A few days after his recovery, the men had to leave to fight. Two days later, Nubs showed up at their combat outpost in the al-Anbar province. He had tracked them 70 miles.

He was a keeper.

The Marines built a doghouse for their mascot, then learned having a pet in a war zone was against regulations. Dennis sought to get him to the United States.

Nubs arrived Feb. 22 in San Diego, his inspections and flights from the Middle East financed by $3,500 contributed to an e-mail campaign.

Marine Capt. Eric Sjoberg and his wife, Chrissy, became "foster parents" to the dog until Dennis returned. Nubs is beginning to learn a new way of life: food bowls regularly filled with clean water and food, lessons with an obedience trainer, and trips to see the sights.

He's been to the Pacific Ocean once. Raised in the desert, he'd never seen anything like it, and was timid about entering the surf.

"I can't wait to take him to the beach myself," Dennis said. "Taking him from the sands of Iraq to the sandy beaches was my dream."

The Sjobergs also took him hiking on rocky Iron Mountain in north San Diego County.

"We were surprised at how many people recognized Nubs," Chrissy Sjoberg said. "They would come up to us and say, 'Is this Nubs? What an amazing story this dog has had.' And then they'd ask to pet him. They'd walk away saying, 'We finally met Nubs.'

"He's a little bit of a celebrity here."

Nubs' tale has been covered by the major television networks and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." A production company associated with a film studio wants to tell the story, and Dennis will speak with representatives once he gets settled.

DeGeneres, who plans to have Dennis and Nubs on her show soon, has donated food, treats, vitamins, an herbal healing salve and an oil supplement to make his coat shine.

"His fur was coarse but now it's soft and shiny," said Cargo, who flew to California to greet her son on his return from his second tour of Iraq. And, of course, for the Nubs reunion.

Life in California is agreeing with Nubs, who has gained 7 pounds and is estimated to be 2 years old. He likes to play hide-and-seek with Kublai, the Sjobergs' German shepherd mix, and their backyard banana trees are his favorite hiding place.

The only problem has been his left hind knee, which keeps dislocating and will require surgery.

Graham Bloem, a certified dog trainer with West Coast K9 in Encinitas, Calif., is helping Nubs' transition from alpha male in a pack of wild desert dogs to beach dog. Chrissy Sjoberg said Bloem is working with Nubs on name recognition, commands, socialization and acclimation to his new environment.

"Nubs is nervous around children and Graham is working with him on that," Chrissy Sjoberg said. "But he just instantly runs up to people in uniform. He has that trust built up with Marines."

Reporter Steve Kornacki can be reached at (813) 731-8170 or skornacki@tampatrib.com.

Ellie