If Johnny had a bumper sticker, it might have read: “All Bark,
All Bite.” Jason recounted the time that he and Johnny were sta- tioned at one of the CIA/SEAL Camps where budgets existed to hire people to cook freshly prepared meals instead of the plastic covered MREs. The team was coming around the corner of a building and ran into one of the Afghan locals who was working as a cook and carrying a basket of fresh tomatoes. Johnny took offense at anyone who smelled local and barked at the terrified man causing him to drop his basket of tomatoes to the ground only to watch Johnny gobble up one of the plumpest, ripest tomatoes. Later that day, the same man was walking nearby again and saw Johnny. The cook immediately threw Johnny a tomato that he had pulled from his pocket and raced in the other direc- tion. Tomatoes became that cook’s first line of defense – throw- ing one at Johnny whenever he appeared and running in the opposite direction. This was fine with Johnny, because he loved tomatoes. He was rapidly learning to train people, too. The time came for Jason to move on and as a SSgt. with the
Marines, he had the opportunity to influence the fate of his dog and also look after one of his Marines at the same time. He found a perfect second handler in Cpl. Albert Johnson. It was about this time that Military Working Dog Team
Support Association (MWDTSA) “met” Johnny as an individual war dog. He and Albert were deployed to an area north of Baghdad in 2008 and we had their team individually on our “Care Package” listing. Our first communication from the team went something like this:
“Thank you very much for the package. My dog, Johnny, is really
enjoying all the treats you sent. Plus, he looks handsome all brushed out with our new FURminator. I am also enjoying the truffles. I can’t thank you enough. Cpl. Johnson and Johnny.” Johnny continued his winning ways under the leadership of
Albert Johnson. His demeanor had not changed, he was still a dog that took no slack from anybody, continued to be very vocal and always wanted to have the last word in any conversation; pretty much a grumpy old dog in a young dog’s body. Unless Operational Security required him to be silent, he was rarely in stealth mode. He found weapons, bombs and caches as if his life depended on it. Of course, not only his life, but the lives of his partner and anyone following behind him was his responsibility and he was always a dog who took his responsibility seriously. It was about this time that Cpl. Johnson was approached by
MWDTSA about submitting Johnny’s name for the AKC’s Award of Canine Excellence, a Hero Dog program where heroic actions, not votes, determined the recipient. Johnson was happy to have his dog recognized, but was reluctant to share his dogs’ many sto- ries; they were too personal, too intimate to be shared with the world. After their last deployment in Iraq, the team returned to
Camp Pendleton, Cpl. Johnson placed Johnny in the kennel, took all of his equipment back and signed out to go get some good sleep, his days with Johnny were over, Johnny would be going to a new handler. Johnny, however, had other ideas.
Continued on page 90g
A Dog’s World of Luxury
Available at fine stores including Downtown Dogs, Tampa
Dog Mania & Cats, Dade City Fluffy Puppies, Clearwater One Lucky Dog, St. Petersburg
Paradise Poochie, St. Augustine The Dog Bar, Miami
www.bowsers.com
www.TheNewBarker.com THE NEW BARKER 63
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