Picture Blog

Rescue dogs were used all the time in Baghdad because they had a  great sense of smell and could detect danger such as bombs and people way earlier than the actual soldiers.

This picture.. well it is just too cute for words. Stray puppies were found all over Baghdad and Iraq and I don't know how they weren't all allowed to live. 

With the great amount of stray dogs and the dangers they brought to soldiers either through diseases they carried or their behavior, many were killed. 

Lava finally made it home to the United States, and Kopelman was thrilled to have made a difference in at least saving one life, even though he wasn't human.

When they first found Lava as a puppy they fed him MRE's (meals ready to eat). None of the soldiers wanted to eat them, and Lava gobbled them up. It turned into a win-win situation.

Lava and Kopelman now live in La Jolla California where they have a family, and are living happily.

This is a picture of when Kopelman had newly discovered Lava and was still stationed in Kallujah.

Stray dogs were everywhere in Iraq, most were killed, but some people had too big of a heart to kill them, and did there best to help them.

Fallujah was the first place Kopelman was stationed and  a very dangerous one too. Bombings and shootings happened everywhere, your life was constantly in danger. 

Once Kopelman was transferred to Baghdad he was put in the Green Zone. It was protected on all sides, and contained the Baghdad Airport. It was dangerous to get in and out, because it was surrounded by the Red Zone, which almost always meant death.