Good News Network - Politics

[Warph]

Dog Saved From Euthanasia "Saved" Veteran's Life, Now a Hero Nominee

A German shepherd who narrowly escaped death at a shelter is officially in the running to be National Hero Dog of the Year.

A group called K9s for Warriors rescued Axel from the pound in hopes that he might be able to rescue a wounded warrior – Marine Captain Jason Haag, who was injured twice while serving in Iraq.

Haag, who lives with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and suffers from traumatic brain injury, had been withdrawing from life, staying in his basement and ignoring his wife and kids. At one time, he was taking 32 pills a day.

Nothing "worked" to alleviate the pain until he met Axel.

Within a week of adopting the pup, Haag was attending his son's baseball game, for the first time in years.

"He can wake me up out of nightmares, take me out of flashbacks," Haag told WUSA in a video.

Now, Axel is up for the American Humane Association's 'Hero Dog of the Year' award for, and you can vote for Axel through May 15th.

Since 2011, K9s for Warriors has placed 159 service dogs with veterans.

The award would mean a big donation to K9s for Warriors, which would go toward the training of more dogs to save more veterans.

In this case, though, Haag likes to think they both saved each other.

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Dogs that were once hard to adopt have become hard to resist thanks to photographer Guinevere Shuster, who found that goofy grins, rubbery faces and outrageous poses normally reserved for humans turned out to be a perfect way to capture a dog's personality.

Shuster, who serves as Director of Social Media for the Humane Society of Utah, says she  simply tosses a treat, lets the dogs ham it up, snaps a few shots, and–presto! The dogs look like they're having a day off-leash on the boardwalk.

Checkout the dog photo's:

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/photo-booth-dogs/

[Warph]

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