Heroic military war dogs get their own float in the nation’s biggest Veteran’s Day parade

OPINION:

No parade rest here. When the nation’s largest Veterans Day parade gets rolling up Fifth Avenue in New York City on Tuesday, the warrior dogs will be a part of it. Six former military dogs who saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan will be aboard a special new float in the big parade - these are canines who sniffed out explosives as “improvised detection dogs” and are each credited with saving the lives of 200 soldiers.

Their former handlers and “Law and Order” star and Army vet Ice-T will accompany the pups, along with American Humane Association president Robin Ganzert, who has already testified before Congress about taken the welfare of dog veterans, who sometimes never make it home from their deployments. A lucky few are reunited with handlers via Mission K9 Rescue and the U.S. War Dog Association; the charities have already returned 14 dogs to their former partners this year.

“These dogs are genuine heroes and deserve to be recognized on Veterans Day, alongside the human heroes who have so faithfully served our country,” Mr. Ganzert says.

The parade, incidentally, features 21,000 participants.