Have you seen the movie Max, about a Marine Corps dog originally stationed in Afghanistan? As a boy momma, with an equally adventure and animal-loving girl, it was right up our alley for family movie night. We enjoyed it! A little predictable? Yes. But still a quality family movie. And it sparked a lot of interest from the crew about military working dogs. The boys are already crazy about anything military and the Ladybug loves everything dogs right now so this angle on their favorite topics was very fresh for them, although not completely new. We’ve enjoyed the Scout book series by Piet Prins as read alouds for several years now. We also happen to have a military dog training facility located here, in our area, so that’s yet another connection to this topic for us. I love when we can spark an interest in things for our crew by making it “real” and “right here” to them.

So I started working up one of our mini unit studies on the topic of Military Working Dogs (MWDs) and came up with a lot more resources than I expected at first! It turns out Amazon Prime has several shows and movies that were of interest (and FREE for members!), as well as fiction and non-fiction books. There is a ton of interesting sidelines to the working dog stories out there–like did you know that families could (and were encouraged to!) “donate” their dog to the Dogs for Defense training program during WWII and the military would take Fido and see if he could be training and sent overseas? Or did you know that the working dogs themselves sometimes suffer from PTSD and have to be treated and then retired from service because of it? And if you’ve read our post about Adopting a Soldier and sending care packages, well, it turns out you can send care packages to K-9 Soldiers too! (Links at the bottom of this post!)

Here’s some resources if you’re interested in learning more about the history, training, and experiences of war dogs and police dogs. (And don’t throw out the idea of just calling your local police station and asking for a meet and greet–I’m sure they’ll accommodate if they can!) Our kiddos are 7, 9, and 11, and these are all compatible with that age-range, either as independent reads or read-alouds, but most of them are interesting even to Mr. Fix-It and I.

Books for Younger Learners (Suggested for under 9 yo)

• War Dogs, Churchill and Rufus, by Kathryn Selbert. The story of Winston Churchill’s devoted poodle, Rufus, who stayed with him throughout the trials of WWII.
• Stubby the Dog Solider, by Blake Hoena. The bulldog that was a WWI hero–we found this one through our local library.
• Stubby, Brave Solider Dog, by Richard Glendinning. Another Stubby story, we haven’t read this one.
• Rags, Hero Dog of WWII, by Margot Raven. True story of a stray that becomes a battlefield companion and message runner for US troops in France.
• Tuesday Tucks Me In, by Luis Montalvan. True story of a service dog helping his owner who suffers from PTSD–written by his solider-owner. (The full biography is listed below and it touched our kiddos deeply.)
• Nubs, the True Story of a Mutt, a Marine, and a Miracle, by Brian Dennis. A wild dog in Iraq that would adopt a U.S. Marine.
• Dogs on Duty, by Dorothy Patent. We found this one at our local library and it’s full of great, full-color photos that young kids (and older!) will love.
• Military Animals, by Laurie Calkhoven. This one also covers more than dogs. The kiddos were particularly interested in the elephants..
• Ready-to-Read Hero Dog series. A cute series of beginning readers about service dogs in several fields.
• Police Dogs, by Marianne Hoffman. This is actually a series on Working Dogs and we found several in our local library covering
• Meet the Police Dogs, by Christy Judah. This one looks very interesting, but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere but Amazon so far.
• Police Dogs, Dog Heroes, by Francis Rufman. This is actually a series of books and covers a wide range of dog heroes, including SARs, therapy dogs, and medical alert dogs.

Books for Older Learners (Suggested for over 9 yo)

• Max, by Boaz Yakin. The story that the movie is based on.
• Dog Jack, by Florence Biros. Dogs played a role even in the Civil War, here’s the story of a stray that became the mascot of the 102nd Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers. (Was made into a movie, listed below.)
• Cracker! Best Dog in Vietnam, by Cynthia Kadohata. An exciting fiction, written from the dog’s point of voice.
• Animals of War, Usborne Readers. Introduces the varied roles of animals throughout military history–not just dogs but also horses, dolphins, and others.
• Saving Zasha and Finding Zasha, by Randi Barrow. A WWII fiction with a young boy and the German Shepard he’s trying to save as the main characters. Gives a lot of insight to war-time conditions as well as some interesting angles on the war dog in history from the European side.
• Duke (and Dash), by Kirby Larson. Two fictional WWII dog-stories that each explore a different aspect of the war’s impacts “back home” in America.
• Solider Dog, by Sam Angus. The story of a boy and his dog looking for his brother across the war torn field of France during WWI.
• Dog Tags series by Alexander London. The Cowboy is reading these right now and enjoying them–I have found several at the local thrift store. There’s also an interesting second series by the same author that the Cowboy is looking for called Tides of War, which is about the Navy’s mammal training program.
• Chips: A Hometown Hero, by Nancy West. Based on the true story of a dog that was volunteered by his family for the war effort during WWII.

Books for Read-Alouds (all ages, but mostly adult level non-fiction)

• War Dogs: Tales of Canine Heroism, History, and Love,  by Rebecca Frankel. This book is an easy non-fiction read that covers the history of American MWDs, some science behind their skills and abilities, and some on-the-ground reporting of missions in the recent conflicts. It’s a great introduction to the topic.
• Until Tuesday, by Luis Montalvan. Biography of a PTSD vet and his service dog.
• Sergeant Stubby, by Anne Bausum. The full version of the true story of the stray bulldog that became a WWI hero.
• Always Faithful, a Memoir of Marine Dogs in WWII, by William Putney. This is the non-fiction book version that goes with the FREE Prime documentary listed below. Written by the retired Marine veterinarian that was a large part of getting the War Dog Memorial established.
• Dogs of War: the Courage, Love, and Loyalty of Military Working Dogs, by Lisa Rogak. This is a modern work and will cover some stories that your kiddos might already be familiar with if they follow the news or current events–or you can look them up on Google. The Ladybug found this one at the library book sale and LOVED it.
• Sergeant Rex: The Unbreakable Bond Between a Marine and His Working Dog, by Mike Dowling. Non-fiction, written by Rex’s handler, about their experiences in the Middle East in 2004–excellent, smooth read even though it’s non-fiction.
• Top Dog: the True Story of Marine Hero Lucca, by Maria Goodavage. This is an account of MWD Lucca, who served in over 400 missions with her handler Chris Willingham.
• Soldier Dogs: the Untold Story of America’s Military Canines, by Maria Goodavage. Written in the fever of interest after a MWD helped take down Osama Bin Laden, this book is a look at what a modern war dogs life is like in and outside of combat.
• Trident K-9 Warriors, by Mike Ritland. Ex-Navy SEAL dog handler and trainer gives insight to the rigorous training process and some action experiences he went through in the SEAL canine program.
• Team Dog: How to Train Your Dog the Navy SEAL Way, by Mike Ritland. This is an interesting branch out from military experiences into your own backyard.
• A Soldier’s Best Friend: Scout Dogs of Vietnam, by John Burnam. A first hand account of a young soldiers experience with scout dogs in Vietnam–this one is very…real. Burnam also wrote several other books when he returned about his experiences.

Movies and FREE Prime Shows (All family-friendly)

• War Dogs of the Pacific. Documentary about the use of Military Working Dogs in WWII, including some great original footage that any history or military buff will enjoy.
• Rin Tin Tin, the iconic war hero turned aced companion. There’s the originals from the 20s and 30s; the Rinty Jr series from the 30s and 40s, and some newer versions from the 50s as well.
• Dogs with Jobs, Season 1 and 2 are FREE with Prime. Several of the episodes cover police, search and rescue, and military work. All the other ones are interesting too. I’ve had to pry the Ladybug away from the screen with a crowbar to keep her from watching all 12 hours in one sitting. {smile}
• Max, War Dog returning from Afghanistan without his soldier must handle his own trauma and help the fallen solider’s family.
• Always Faithful, FREE Prime documentary about military war dogs, follows for Marine dog teams in Iraq and Afghanistan
• Dog Jack, adaption of book listed above.
• Duke, story of the dog companion that helps a returned vet deal with PTSD and other family traumas.
• Wild About Animals: Canine Cops, FREE 30 minute episode covering the work of two canine police units, including training and daily activities.
• Ace of Hearts, police dog helps his officer’s daughter solve a crime he is accused of.
• K-9, K-911, K-9:P.I., this series with James Belushi and Jerry Lee the German Shepard from 1999 to 2003 are classic cop comedy. I will mention that they’re PG-13, and a little more “adult” situations than the others on the list, but I would consider them pretty harmless by most standards today.
• Top Dog, with Chuck Norris. Another family friend, police dog comedy.
• Turner and Hooch, with Tom Hanks. Another family friendly police dog comedy. {smile}
• Danny Boy, FREE with Prime. 1946 classic about a war dog returning home and who finds himself kidnapped away from his family.

Other Items of Interest 

• The US War Dog Association
• Support Our Troops, K-9 Soldier Treats the Military Paws Program
• Warrior Dog Foundation (founded by Mike Ritland, author of several of the Navy SEAL training books above)
• Operation K-9 Care to send care packages to K-9 soldiers serving overseas
• Support Military Working Dogs
• True Heroes Army Playset with K-9 (Our boys have several of these sets–they like the figures, but the vehicles don’t usually hold up well.)
• Lego Police Dog Unit
• Lego Police Officers w/Dog
• Lego Police Dog Van
• Call of Duty Vulture Attack building set
• Phicen Special Forces Dog Action Figure
• WWII Dogs and Service Men model kit

I hope you find some of these of interest for your family or yourself. I’ve had good luck finding a lot of the younger reader and adult non-fiction at our library through inter-library loan. This topic is very popular right now after MWD Cairo was identified as part of SEAL Team 6 in the Bin Laden raid. The pictures in this post are all public domain images the military has shared as part of their collaboration on these non-fiction works.

If you have any other resources of interest, please share! We’d love to add them to the list!