The Pet Gazette
Peter Way, a nurse practitioner in the Department of Emergency Medicine, brought a friend home from the war.
“Shomali found me while I was serving with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan,” he says. “This picture of her was taken inside the medical treatment room I built in the firebase. She served for six months as the base guard dog and when I was sent home, I knew I couldn't leave her there.”
Peter was able to get Shomali out of the country with the help of an Army veterinarian and a friend in counterintelligence.
It was an eventful flight home. While en route to Germany, Shomali, an apparent mix of Afghan hound and Anatolian Shepherd, chewed out of her crate and was found wandering around in the aircraft hold. Once in the States, for a month she refused to walk on grass, something she had never seen in Afghanistan.
Originally named Cujo by the soldiers, Peter’s family gave her a more feminine, Afghan name, after the Shomali Plain of Afghanistan, north of Kabul.
“Shomali is now about 4 years old and a very Americanized family pet. She loves to run with me or my wife and has run over 19 miles at one time. She sleeps on my daughter’s bed every night. She still carries on her duties as a guard dog, taking care of our house and yard.”
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