Topic: Iraq War dog living comfortably in Chicago suburbs

[oldcoastie6468]

Iraq War dog living comfortably in Chicago suburbs
Ten years after arriving from Iraq, dog remains as loyal as ever

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Bashur, an Iraqi war dog, shipped from the Middle East to John Fenzel in Sleepy Hollow about 10 years ago. Fenzel's son, Michael, was stationed in Iraq during the war found and rescued the puppy. Fenzel and Bashur have been together ever since.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEzsfVQ0iLE#t=12

By John Keilman, Tribune reporter
5:31 p.m. CST, January 26, 2014

It has been almost 10 years since Bashur the dog left a war zone in Iraq for a quiet home in the Chicago suburbs, and in that time, a lot has changed.

Once small enough to fit in the palm of the Army officer who rescued her from a life in the wild, she has grown to a 110-pound hulk. Once attuned to the faint noise of distant but rapidly approaching rockets, her radar now locks onto deer and foxes.

But one thing is still the same. Bashur remains a paragon of faithfulness — only now, the center of her world is the officer's father, Hampshire car dealer John Fenzel.

"She's a character," Fenzel said the other day. "Not a lovey-dovey lap dog, but super loyal."

In 2004, about a year after the invasion of Iraq, the Tribune wrote about Bashur's adoption by then Army Maj. Mike Fenzel. His unit discovered the tiny pup during its push toward the oil city of Kirkuk; an intelligence officer scooped her from the roadside grass and brought her along to a base where the unit set up.

Named after the village into which Fenzel's unit parachuted, Bashur and her constant presence irritated some soldiers but charmed Fenzel, who moved her into his room to recuperate after she was struck by a vehicle.

They formed a tight bond, and when Fenzel's unit prepared to leave Iraq, he hustled to find a way to send her to his dad's place in Sleepy Hollow. After being turned down by the Air Force and private shipping companies, he enlisted the help of the International Veterinary Hospital in Kuwait and got his beloved companion flown to Illinois.

She soon settled into a routine that has lasted to this day. She accompanies John Fenzel to his Chrysler dealership whenever he heads into work and she hangs out in the showroom, a stern watchdog who rarely leaves his side. When the day is over, it's back to Sleepy Hollow, where Bashur has the run of three-quarters of an acre, bordered by an electric fence.

"She'll ferret out foxes and skunks," Fenzel said. "She knows where the deer are. She went after a coyote once when I was walking her."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-iraq-dog-met-20140127,0,6896116.story

[AlanS]

I'm always amazed at how quickly we get attached to pets and vice versa.

[Libertas]

Wait a sec, something didn't register right...

"It has been almost 10 years since Bashur the dog left a war zone in Iraq for a quiet home in the Chicago suburbs, and in that time, a lot has changed."

Oh, suburbs!  Still...not my choice of living accomodations, but certainly the 'burbs have to be better than anyting in the Detroit area...closest thing to Fallujah we have.

Nice doggy!  Gets rid of/chases off critters.  Here's a biscuit!