Military Working Dogs (MWD) are not pets, but Cpl. Amy Maulo certainly missed her battle buddy, a German Shepard named Batman when she accepted a promotion and began working with another dog.
Batman had spent nine years working for the 544th Military Police Detachment at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. As a drug-sniffing dog, he would often be out on patrol with his handler. Batman was so proficient in his job that oftentimes he was like he was training his handlers rather than the other way around.
"It definitely made me feel confident, but it also made me feel really inferior because people don’t think you’re a good handler when you have what we call a 'push button dog,'" Maulo explained.
Working with a different dog was a challenge and Maulo found that they simply did not click, they were not working well together and she wanted to go back to working with her old buddy again.
"It was complete excitement when I got him back," she said. "You know the feeling you get when you’re a kid and your parents get you that thing you wanted for so long for your birthday and you have that excitement? It was that. I remember going into his run and sitting down with him and having him lay on my lap for hours. It was the best decision I ever made."
However, Maulo had decided to leave the military and Batman was looking at various retirement options himself as he was entering his tenth year of service, pretty old in dog years, and he was already on various medications.
Maulo decided to adopt Batman and now he lives in her home, this time as a real pet.
"Every time I get on the couch, he wants to cuddle. He comes over and, like, lies his body next to mine and just sleeps there for hours. He’s a completely different dog."
"I don’t make him do any sort of work. I don’t require anything of him," she said. "That’s done. He’s earned his rest."
Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR.
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