When you’re assigned a working dog in the military, it can be tough because it doesn’t last forever. The dogs are usually owned by the military and treated as property, so the bond they form with a handler isn’t considered. When a handler is assigned a new station or position, they often have to leave their K9 behind to be assigned to a new handler.
It’s heartbreaking, but sometimes we see a positive ending for some lucky dog-handler duos. We recently saw that when a working military K9 was retired and instead of going to a stranger, a shelter, or being euthanized, the dog was able to reunite with his former handler and be adopted!
Journalist Hannah Knowles shared about the reunion in a touching Facebook post.
The post showed 10-year-old Bady with his former handler Sgt. Adamma Bilal at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The two served together in South Korea for a year and a half, but they hadn’t seen each other in months since Bilal was relocated to Florida and wasn’t aloud to bring Bady with him.
Thankfully, they were able to be reunited at long last thanks to Mission K9 Rescue so Bady could retire with Bilal in Florida.
Mission K9 Rescue works to help retired working dogs find forever homes to live out their golden years. It was thanks to them that Bady was able to come home and meet with Bilal after so long apart.
Fox 13 Seattle shared a video of the exact moment Bady was freed from his crate at the airport and reunited with Bilal and it’s so heartwarming to see!
Bady is overcome with joy and soaks up all the love and belly rubs that Bilal has to offer. You can watch the sweet moment for yourself in the video below: