5 Puppies From Kenya Get New Home With U.S. Soldiers After 6 Months of Transport Logistics

The Five U.S. Soldiers pose for a group photo with their puppies shortly after their reunion on Saturday, December, 3, 2022
The Five U.S. Soldiers pose for a group photo with their puppies shortly after their reunion on Saturday, December, 3, 2022
WSLS

Five puppies rescued by five soldiers from the United States of America while on a security mission in Kenya finally found new homes in the United States. 

This is after the puppies finally reached their destination in the United States on December 3, after six months of traveling and on-and-off quarantines. 

The reunion between the soldiers and the puppies was made possible by an organization called Paws of War at VFW Post 1264 in Roanoke in the U.S.

A Collage of Sgt. Chase Griffiths walking his dog (L) and Army National Guard Sgt. Chase Griffith of Martinsville carrying his dog
A Collage of Sgt. Chase Griffiths walking his dog (L) and Army National Guard Sgt. Chase Griffith of Martinsville carrying his dog
The Raonoke Times

Andrew Edgar, Chase Griffith, David Pettit, Jaden Naulty, and Thomas Johnson were all serving in the Virginia National Guard's security mission to Kenya when they rescued the puppies. 

“We just kept taking care of the puppies, feeding them you know stuff like that. The locals there didn’t really like dogs and they probably would have killed them,” Pettit told the press during the reunion. 

For the first week of the dogs’ lives, the soldiers also played with them and bonded with them before deciding to take the puppies with them back to the U.S. 

However, they couldn’t do it themselves. That is how they got the services of Paws of War to help with the process of getting the puppies to the United States. 

According to Robert Misseri, the organization's Co-Founder, the process of relocation from Kenya to the U.S. was very complicated. 

“With these puppies, once the soldiers handed them over to us we had to use donkeys, we had to use row boats, we had to use locals,” Misseri indicated.

Upon the reunion with their owners six months after they last saw each other, the dogs were very timid at first due to the months-long journey from country to country.

However, WSLS reported that the puppies eventually came around and started getting used to their new owners.

“This is when you say it’s really all worth it. Looking at all this and seeing them reuniting, then you realize it’s really worth it,” Misseri revealed.

Although the soldiers are waiting to go back to Kenya, they they’re already setting up the first puppy play date.

Sgt. Chase Griffith and his rescue dog Avery along with a photo of the two in Kenya when the dog was a small puppy.
Sgt. Chase Griffith and his rescue dog Avery along with a photo of the two in Kenya when the dog was a small puppy
The Raonoke Times
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