Marine Shaun Duling Raises Thousands To Fly Dog Home From Afghanistan
Marine Shaun Duling raised $4,000 to bring the stray dog which became his beloved canine buddy, home from Afghanistan. Duling befriended the lonely and wandering dog while fighting terrorism in the Middle East. After posting the extremely heart-tugging story about Bolt on a charity website, the Marine garnered the funds necessary to fly his friend home to America.
Bolt and Shaun met a year ago in Afghanistan. The dog and his sister, Xena, were adopted by the military unit and became unofficial base dogs. Living life as a stray had been rough on Bolt, but when he was encompassed by the love of the Marines, he soon began putting on weight and developed a happier attitude.
Shaun had this to say about the Afghanistan base dogs:
“Xena was very fit and obviously well-fed, while Bolt was skinny, malnourished, and very standoffish towards humans. Before you knew it, Bolt was putting on some weight, running around and just looking like a normal dog again.”
Bolt lived inside a little temporary dog house by the Marine’s tent, Shaun used a blanket and foam pads to create a home for his furry pal, until all dogs were ordered off base a few months later. All of the strays which had been unofficially adopted by military members, were taken nearly 13 miles away from the base and dropped off, Radar Online reports.
The intelligent stray was not about to be separated from his human, and followed the dog removal convoy back to base. Duling had this to say about his exit from the base during an interview with KCBD News:
“As I was walking to the helicopter I tried to get some of the guys to hold onto him, but he broke free and tried to jump in with me. I think he knew I was leaving, and leaving for good. He just looked sad and confused and I was just like ‘That can’t be the last time I see him.’ ”
After returning home, the dog-loving Marine found out about Nowzad, a charity organization that rescues abandoned animals in Afghanistan. Due to the giving nature of others, Bolt and Shaun should be reunited before the Marine’s birthday next month.
