War dogs are impressive: loyal, protective, fearless and loving.

Not only are these dogs fierce assault weapons, they are loyal guardians. When Private First Class Colton Rusk was shot after his unit came under Taliban sniper fire during a routine patrol in Afghanistan, Rusk’s bomb-sniffing dog, Eli, crawled on top of his body, attacking anyone — including Rusk’s fellow Marines — who tried to come near him. Rusk did not survive the assault, but Eli was granted early retirement so he could live with Rusk’s family.

WARNING: this is an intense 4 minute video; it made me cry. It will capture you though and you’ll be happy you watched it. It will help remind yourself of how much you do love your dog. Now, I need to go scratch Beau‘s ears.

Last Minutes with ODEN from phos pictures on Vimeo.

Found this today from when Beau was sick (still no idea what was wrong, but he’s doing well). This picture reminds me of how little he weighed when I picked him up – he lost 2 pounds (of the 6.5 he weighed). Most of all though, I like that we have matching wrist straps.

My little buddy, Beau, is in the hospital with ailments that the vet is not able to figure out. He’s gone through numerous tests and with unsuccessful treatments. I’ve still got hope. He’s got some blood work that we should hear back from in a few days to know more, but while I’m waiting to hear back with the (good) news, I’ve had lots of time to think – he hasn’t been around to bother me by licking my hands until I pet him. As I’ve been thinking about Beau, I keep coming back to this article that the Sports Guy penned a few months ago, One final toss for The Dooze.

Now, let me be clear, I’m in no way saying that this what is in store for Beau, I’m just saying that it’s really hard to capture what your dog means to you, and in this case, I’d love to write a piece as good as this to capture who Beau is and where he’ll be when he kicks this thing he’s got.

I have to agree with Mickey Rourke who said this during his acceptance speech at the 2008 Golden Globes.

Sometimes when a man’s alone, all you got is your dog and they meant the world to me.