The Most Loyal Love

Words cannot express the deep love and admiration I have for this man and his dog.
I never even knew them.
Yet, my heart is breaking at the emptiness, in the world, that their deaths have left behind.

The honor and devotion from man to dog... dog to man... is so remarkable.
The last full measure of TRUE and abiding devotion,
stirs the deepest part of my soul.

As I sit, in this season of Lent, contemplating the depths of Christ's love, to hang his life on the cross for me....
I see that there are real life examples of that same selfless love RIGHT here.
The way a dog loves his person is the truest example of real love we will ever know, this side of heaven. And, the devotional love a man returns to his dog is maybe, one of the closest moments to "complete" we people get to have.
Here is an excerpt from the Associated Press story of this extraordinary team and the awesome power of love...

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Jill Lawless, Associated Press – 2 hrs 46 mins ago

LONDON – Liam and Theo were a team, fast friends doing a dangerous job — searching out roadside bombs laid by insurgents in Afghanistan.

The jovial British soldier and his irrepressible dog worked and played together for months, and died on the same day. On Thursday they came home, flown back to Britain in a somber repatriation ceremony for the soldier remembered for his empathy with animals and the companion he loved.

Lance Cpl. Liam Tasker, a dog handler with the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, was killed in a firefight with insurgents in Helmand Province on March 1 as he searched for explosives with Theo, a bomb-sniffing springer spaniel mix. The dog suffered a fatal seizure hours later at a British army base, likely brought about by stress.

Military officials won't go so far as to say Theo died of a broken heart — but that may not be far from the truth.

"I think we often underestimate the grieving process in dogs," said Elaine Pendlebury, a senior veterinarian with animal charity PDSA. "Some dogs react very severely to their partner's loss."

She said it was not uncommon for pets to respond to an owner's death by refusing food and becoming sick — and the bond between working dogs and their handlers is especially close.

"The bonding that I have seen between soldiers or police and their dogs is fantastic. When you see them working together, it's really one unit."

A military Hercules plane carrying Tasker's body and Theo's ashes touched down Thursday at a Royal Air Force base in southwest England. As the funeral cortege of black vehicles drove slowly away, it was saluted by a long line of military dog handlers, their dogs at their sides. A black Labrador retriever sat quietly beside its handler as the hearse carrying the flag-draped coffin disappeared from view.