Fredericton pair rescue Afghanistan dogs to help Canadian soldiers
Sandra Buckingham and Onne de Boer, from outside Fredericton, are working to match rescued Afghanistan dogs with military members and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The two have their own dogs and they've adopted several local dogs, but now they've gradually taken in four dogs from the charity Nowzad — the only official animal shelter in Afghanistan.
Murphy, the first dog Buckingham and de Boer brought to Canada had been rescued by soldiers who dropped him and another dog off at the shelter.
The organization is run by a veterinary clinic staffed by a team of Afghan nationals who have taken care of dogs and cats living on the streets. According to its website, Nowzad has reunited more than 850 soldiers with the dogs and cats that soldiers rescued and bonded with on the front lines.
After the dog's litter mate found a home, Murphy was in the shelter for months before de Boer decided they had to step in, apply and give the dog a loving home on the other side of the world.
'They're very loyal dogs'
"He's very playful, very high energy and they're on alert all the time," Buckingham told Shift New Brunswick.
Their other dogs would be napping and Murphy would constantly scan the windows and would bark to alert them.
"That's the first thing that caught us by surprise in the middle of the night," she said.
Over the years Murphy has calmed down, though each new dog that comes in from Afghanistan goes through the same routine he once had — always on alert, keeping watch for their new home.
"They're very loyal dogs, but they're scent hounds," Buckingham said. "They'll go off once they smell something they want, but they're loving, and they're very easy to befriend."
Because the dogs are so loving and loyal, the pair started the Pets for Vets program, hoping to help train and match dogs from the shelter with military members or veterans with PTSD.
They're planning on expanding their property to give a place for the dogs to be trained on site.
'They're our family now'
"We want to give that love to a solider, that special bond," she said. "They would be saving a dog as well as saving themselves … they're rescuing a war survivor, just like them."
They've taken in so many local dogs and Afghan dogs that now, Buckingham laughed, that they're "tripping over them."
But it's welcome, because the dogs have found a special place in their hearts.
"They're our family now," she said.
