"He's not my best friend. He's my brother."

July 29, 2017 4:40 PM

Corporal Jeff DeYoung (Ret.) & Military Working Dog Cena served together in the United States Marine Corps during one tour of duty from October 2009 to April 2010 as part of Operation Moshtarak. Cena served a total of four years in the military, and was separated from Corporal DeYoung for four years, one month, and eight days. They had a tearful reunion on June 5, 2014 with help from American Humane. On July 26, 2017, as friends and fellow patriots saluted, DeYoung carried Cena past a crowd of well-wishers and boarded a decommissioned Navy ship in Muskegon, Mich. It was there where the black lab, lame with bone cancer, was euthanized. He was 10.

American Humane Hero Dog Awards^® is an annual campaign that recognizes heroes on both ends of the leash. Here are this year's finalists.
posted by Johnny Wallflower (18 comments total)

Oh man, I saw this earlier and cried so hard. What a good boy.
posted by corb at 4:42 PM on July 29, 2017 [6 favorites]

It's just a little dusty in here...
posted by cyclotronboy at 5:09 PM on July 29, 2017

Thanks for giving me a dog story that has "was euthanized" in it.

You are the Evil Johnny Wallflower, from the Mirror World, aren't you?
posted by GenjiandProust at 5:12 PM on July 29, 2017 [6 favorites]

.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 5:40 PM on July 29, 2017

.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 5:41 PM on July 29, 2017

I can't even read the post without getting choked up. Like hell am I going to click on the video.

[Note to men: it is not dusty, you are not chopping onions, you do not have allergies. YOU ARE HAVING AN EMOTIONAL REACTION. It will be okay. You are still a man. I promise.]
posted by AFABulous at 5:59 PM on July 29, 2017 [28 favorites]

Never has it been more true: they are all good dogs.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:17 PM on July 29, 2017 [5 favorites]

What a superb pupper, and what a good man.
posted by Hermione Granger at 9:16 PM on July 29, 2017 [3 favorites]

.
posted by evilDoug at 9:18 PM on July 29, 2017

Also as you explore American Humane's gallery of heroes, be forewarned: there are many superb puppers there with horrifying backstories. Read with caution. Some of the stories are very traumatizing to read depending on your tolerance for such things.
posted by Hermione Granger at 9:21 PM on July 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

What does it mean to be a hero? For me it's not necessarily foresight nor bravery, but more than just will; it requires choice. The most important lesson I learned from one of my heroes, (a reluctant vietnam veteran who became a professor of literature and war) was that a person in even the most seemingly impossible position always has a choice. He didn't consider himself a hero because he failed to exercise conscientious objection when faced with an immoral war that terrified him, because the only thing more terrifying would be appearing a coward by standing against the flow of cirumstance.

These dogs did not enlist in public service, did not understand why they were doing what they were conditioned to do. They don't understand consequence or mortality or morality. They were bred and trained to instinctively do their job with arguably even less choice than a human slave.

They should be celebrated and loved and honored and treated with the dignity of a human hero. I know this will be a deeply unpopular position in this thread; I wonder if labeling these animals with the honorific of "hero" is any more accurate than Ben Carson's honorific of "immigrants" who sought heroic self-determination from the bottom of a slave ship.
posted by WhitenoisE at 9:27 PM on July 29, 2017 [4 favorites]

I bet there are no American Hero Cat Awards.
posted by AFABulous at 10:10 PM on July 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Not as such. However, the UK has them.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:01 PM on July 29, 2017 [1 favorite]

Both my parents are dead, and I can read about children who have lost parents. I may cry and grieve again, but I can do it.

But a post about a good dog or cat who has gone on before their person? Can't do it. The grief for them carries all my life's sorrows. I will miss my fuzzy loves forever.
posted by rtha at 11:20 PM on July 29, 2017 [11 favorites]

That expression on Cena's face in the video is the exact expression I saw on our beagle a couple of years ago when I finally knew it was time for him to go. He was 16, and like Cena, he was a good dog. I'm both sad at the memory, and comforted at that validation that I did make the right call back then. (warning - blog post / eulogy for Fenway the Beagle)
posted by COD at 7:09 AM on July 30, 2017 [3 favorites]

Semper Fido
posted by chavenet at 11:34 AM on July 30, 2017 [5 favorites]

Dogs are better than our species deserves.
posted by turbid dahlia at 2:25 PM on July 30, 2017 [4 favorites]

Yes, I know that look all too well. This has made me weep for cena, her human, my good girl, gone these four years now, and all of us who have loved, and will always love our dogs. Sleep well, good dogs.
posted by SecretAgentSockpuppet at 5:20 PM on July 30, 2017 [4 favorites]