War dogs •
Antis, a
German Shepherd, served with
Václav Robert Bozděch, a Czech airman, in the French Air Force and the
No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF in Britain, and helped his owner escape after the death of
Jan Masaryk; winner of the
Dickin Medal, the equivalent of the
Victoria Cross for dogs. •
Bamse, a
Saint Bernard, was a symbol of the
Free Norwegian Forces in World War II. • Bart, a German Shepherd working with
SEAL Team Six who was killed along with 38 people which consisted of U.S. special operation troops, aviators and Afghan commandos in
2011. •
Becerrillo, a
Castilian attack dog during the time of the Spanish
conquistadors. •
Bing, a German Shepherd and
Collie cross who parachuted with the
6th Airborne Division on
D-Day and winner of the Dickin Medal. •
Caesar (the Anzac Dog), was taught to locate wounded soldiers on the battlefields of the
Western Front and guide them back to safety. •
Cairo, a
Belgian Malinois used by
U.S. Navy SEALs in
Operation Neptune Spear, in which
Osama bin Laden was killed. • Chesty, one of a family of
bulldogs, serving as the official mascot of Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C. These dogs are actually enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, most attaining the rank of corporal. •
Chips, the most decorated hero war dog of World War II. •
Chopper, a
Navy SEAL dog who served in Iraq in Afghanistan from 2007-2011. Chopper was honored at the White House and, along with his handler Trevor Maroshek, was the subject of a 2015
Smithsonian Channel documentary
SEAL Dog. •
Conan, a
Delta Force dog who participated in the
Barisha raid in 2019. •
Crumstone Irma, a German Shepherd who assisted in the rescue of 191 people trapped under blitzed buildings, was awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945. •
Gander, a
Newfoundland, was posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal for his feats during the
Battle of Hong Kong in World War II. •
Gunner, Canine air-raid early warning system during the
bombing of Darwin in World War II. •
Horrie the Wog Dog, found in Egypt by Australian Forces in 1942 during World War II, saved the lives of many Australian soldiers. Horrie was refused admission back to Australia after service in Europe; he was saved by his mates smuggling him to his new home in Australia. •
Jet of Iada a German Shepherd, who assisted in the rescue of 150 people trapped under blitzed buildings. He was awarded both the Dickin Medal and the
RSPCA's Medallion of Valor for his rescue efforts. •
Judy, a ship's dog who served with the
Royal Navy, was the only animal to have been officially registered as a Japanese
prisoner of war. She survived the death camps on the
Burma Railway and was awarded the Dickin Medal in 1946. •
Just Nuisance, a Great Dane, the only dog to have been officially enlisted in the Royal Navy, was buried with full military honours upon his death in 1944. •
Kurt, a
Doberman Pinscher "
Devil Dog" credited with saving the lives of at least 250 U.S. Marines during the
1944 Battle of Guam by alerting them to Japanese soldiers. Kurt was mortally wounded on patrol, on 23 July, becoming the first Marine K-9 combat casualty. He was the first to be buried in what would become the
National War Dog Cemetery in Guam, where his likeness in bronze sits atop the World War II War Dog Memorial that includes names inscribed for the Dobermans who died while serving with the U.S. Marine Corps on Guam. • Lava, a mixed breed dog, was adopted as a puppy by the
1st Battalion 3rd Marines Unit nicknamed the
Lava Dogs. He was rescued from Iraq in 2005 by Lieutenant Colonel Jay Kopelman. Lava is the subject of the book
From Baghdad, With Love by Kopelman and Melinda Roth. •
Lex, the first actively working military working dog to be adopted by family members of their handler, prior to being retired. •
Lucca, a dog working for the U.S. Marine Corps who was awarded the Dickin Medal. •
Moustache, a
barbet said to have participated in several battles of the
French Revolutionary and
Napoleonic Wars. •
Nemo A534, a German Shepherd who saved the life of his handler in battle despite having been shot in the nose and losing an eye. •
Nigger, a black
Labrador Retriever belonging to
Guy Gibson, gave his name as the codename for the
Dam Busters mission in World War II. His name is usually edited out of modern versions of the film about the mission due to the offensiveness of the term to modern viewers. •
Patron, an explosives detection dog that received the
Order for Courage third class during the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. •
Philly, a mutt and World War I "hero"; mascot of Company A of the 315 Infantry, 79th Division ("Philadelphia's Own"). •
Rags, a Signal Corps mascot during World War I. • Rex (E168), a U.S. Marine military working dog handled and later owned by
Corporal Megan Leavey whose story was chronicled in the 2017 film
Megan Leavey. •
Rifleman Khan, a German Shepherd who won the Dickin Medal for bravery. •
Rip, a World War II search and rescue dog. •
Rob, a
Collie working dog on a farm in Shropshire until 1942, when his owners enlisted him as a war dog. Assigned to the Special Air Service at the base in Wivenhoe Park, Essex. Subsequently awarded the Dickin Medal in February 1945. •
Sallie Ann Jarrett, Civil War mascot of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry regiment, whose bronze statue is part of the regimental monument at
Gettysburg. , Civil War mascot of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry •
Sarbi, an
Australian special forces explosives detection dog who spent almost 14 months
missing in action (MIA) in
Afghanistan before being recovered in 2009. •
Sasha, bomb-sniffing dog, posthumously awarded the Dickin Medal. •
Sinbad, the
U.S. Coast Guard's most famous mascot. He was adopted by a crewman from the cutter prior to World War II. He was so beloved by the crew that they actually enlisted him in the Coast Guard. Sinbad had a book written about him. and crew, 1943 •
Smoky, hero war dog of World War II, was a
Yorkshire Terrier who served with the
5th Air Force in the Pacific after she was adopted by Corporal
William Wynne. Smoky was credited with twelve
combat missions and awarded eight
battle stars. Wynne authored a book about his adventures with Smoky entitled
Yorkie Doodle Dandy: Or, the Other Woman Was a Real Dog. • Stubby, aka
Sergeant Stubby, a
Boston Terrier/
American Pit Bull Terrier, the most decorated
war dog of
World War I and the only dog to be nominated for rank and then promoted to
sergeant through combat. He was also a mascot at
Georgetown University. •
Theo, an
English Springer Spaniel belonging to Lance Corporal Liam Tasker of the British Army. Theo was used to sniff out roadside bombs in Afghanistan. In 2010, Theo and Tasker were in a firefight with insurgents, killing Tasker. Theo died later at a British army base from a fatal seizure, although many believe he died from a broken heart. Tasker's body and Theo's ashes were returned to England, where Tasker's family was presented with Theo's ashes in a private ceremony. In October 2012, Theo was posthumously honored with the Dickin Medal, Britain's highest award for bravery by animals. •
Tich, Dickin Medal winner of the
King's Royal Rifle Corps during the Second World War. •
Treo, awarded Dickin Medal for work as an
Arms and Explosives Search dog in
Helmand Province, Afghanistan. •
Willie,
George S. Patton's faithful
bull terrier. •
Zanjeer, was a Labrador Retriever who served as a detection dog with the
Mumbai Police in
Maharashtra state of
India. Due to his impeccable service detecting many explosives and other weapons—in particular during the
1993 Mumbai bombings—he was honoured with a full state funeral. • K9 Big Wolf - See #Faithful after owner's death
Rescue dogs • Aspen, a search-and-rescue
Golden Retriever who assisted in searching for survivors of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995. • Baillie, an active search and rescue
Border Collie on one of Canada's all hazards disaster response teams, Canada Task Force 2 (CAN-TF2), where she specialises in
Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR). She is also a member of
Canmore Fire Rescue and mascot for
Banff Emergency Medical Services in the
Banff National Park. Baillie has represented Canada at the
UNISDR Americas conference and has been honoured with an exhibit on her
wearable technology in the
Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. •
Balto, a famous
sled dog, was the lead dog on the final leg of the
1925 serum run to Nome (which relayed
diphtheria antitoxin by
dog sled across
Alaska to combat an
epidemic). Balto was memorialized with a
statue in New York's Central Park. An
animated film was produced in 1995, telling a somewhat dramatized version of the dog's life. •
Barry, a famous
Saint Bernard rescue dog, reportedly saved 40 people. • Bilbo, a lifeguard
Newfoundland dog on Sennen beach in
Cornwall, credited with saving three lives. • Dakota, a
pit bull search and rescue dog who responded to over 100 search missions including the search for the astronauts who died in the
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. •
Frida, a Mexican golden Labrador credited with saving 12 people's lives and locating more than 40 bodies during her 9 years of service; gained international fame for rescue and recovery efforts following the
2017 Puebla earthquake in Mexico. • Gandalf, a black
Shiloh Shepherd search and rescue dog owned by Misha Marshall, who found missing
Boy Scout Michael Auberry in March 2007. • Kira (2019), an English Golden Retriever, who became a hero when on her own accord, she twice assisted her owner in breaking through ice and rescuing two dogs separately stranded in a frozen lake, rounding up each animal and guiding them safely to shore. •
Mancs (1994–2006), a German Shepherd, the most famous rescue dog of the Spider Special Rescue Team of
Miskolc,
Hungary. Became famous when he helped rescue a 3-year-old girl who spent 82 hours under the ruins after the
Izmit earthquake of 1999 in
Turkey. • Nico (2015), a recently adopted
Bernese mountain dog, became a hero when he saved two people who were being swept out into the ocean by a
rip current. •
Peter, a Collie, who was a search and rescue dog during World War II. •
Swansea Jack, a Welsh dog, who rescued people from
Swansea Bay and the
River Tawe. •
Togo, a
Siberian Husky, who was the lead dog that led the longest track while the team had the antitoxin, during the
1925 serum run to Nome (which relayed
diphtheria antitoxin by
dog sled across
Alaska to combat an
epidemic). • Wilson, a
Belgian Shepherd military search and rescue dog who, separated from his handlers, independently located and protected four children lost in the Colombian jungle after the
2023 crash of their aircraft, but was lost during the operation and never recovered. • Approximately 350 search and rescue dogs worked at the
World Trade Center site following the
September 11, 2001 attacks. Rescuers relied on the dogs' sense of smell and agility in tight spaces to seek survivors and recover the remains of victims. •
Ana, the first of the first responder dogs at the World Trade Center. •
Apollo, a
search and rescue dog who worked at World Trade Center site following the 11 September 2001 attacks. •
Jake, a black Labrador who served as a search and rescue dog following the 11 September 2001 attacks and
Hurricane Katrina. •
Trakr, a German Shepherd
survivor detection dog who found the last survivor of the World Trade Center attack on 11 September 2001. •
Bretagne, a Golden Retriever search and rescue dog, believed to have been the last surviving rescue dog of the World Trade Center attacks when she was euthanized on 6 June 2016, at age 16, following kidney failure.
Guide, service, and facility dogs • Buddy, a female
German Shepherd, the first formally trained guide dog in the United States. She belonged to
Morris Frank, who worked to establish
The Seeing Eye, the first dog guide school in America. •
Endal, a yellow
Labrador Retriever service dog voted "Dog of the Millennium", famous for his extraordinary ability to help his human partner, a disabled veteran, with many aspects of his life, for over a decade, and his role in the promotion of service dog programs. •
Orca, a
Golden Retriever assistance dog awarded a
PDSA Gold Medal for saving his owner's life. • Professor Beauregard Tirebiter,
University of Southern California's Official Wellness Dog. Beau is USC's first full-time canine faculty member and comes from a "
hypoallergenic" mix between a Golden Retriever and a
Poodle, also widely known as a "
Goldendoodle". Beau is professionally trained as a facility dog and creates well-being throughout his facility, USC. •
Roselle, a Labrador Retriever guide dog who led her blind owner Michael Hingson to safety from the 78th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center after the 9/11 attack. •
Salty, a Labrador Retriever guide dog who led his blind owner Omar Rivera from the 71st floor of Tower 1 of the World Trade Center on 9/11. •
Sully, former President
George H. W. Bush's yellow Labrador Retriever service dog during his last six months of life. Noted for his role during
the President's state funeral. Subsequently, serving at the
Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. •
Trixie Koontz, the Golden Retriever companion of
Dean Koontz, was a retired guide dog and the purported author of
Life Is Good. Trixie died 30 June 2007 at home, euthanized on her favorite couch with Koontz and his wife holding her in their arms. She had a tumor in her heart.
Dogs that aided exploration •
Bothie, a
Jack Russell Terrier who was the first dog to travel to both the
South and
North Poles. •
Bud, part of the
first automobile trip across the United States in 1903. •
Chinook was the dog team leader for the
Byrd Antarctic Expeditions and dubbed an "All American Dog" in the 1920s. •
Laika, aka Kudryavka, a Russian stray was the
first animal to orbit the Earth, in 1957. • Leoncico ("Little Lion"), was the dog of the Spanish explorer and
conquistador Vasco Núñez de Balboa, exploring and struggling with him across the
Isthmus of Panama, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, in 1513. • Obersten ("The Colonel"), a
Greenland Dog who was a part of
Roald Amundsen's expedition to the South Pole. He was one of eleven dogs that survived and returned. He was brought home by
Oscar Wisting and spent the rest of his life as his family pet. He is mounted and exhibited at the
Holmenkollen ski museum. •
Seaman,
Meriwether Lewis's
Newfoundland who accompanied the
Lewis and Clark Expedition from the
Mississippi River to the Pacific coast in modern Oregon, across the northwestern U.S., from 1804 to 1806. He protected them from bears and buffalo, and was popular with the Native Americans they came in contact with.
Police dogs •
Agata, a decorated Colombian Labrador
detection dog who was so effective in detecting drugs that a bounty of $10,000 was offered. •
Diesel, a
Belgian Malinois RAID assault dog deployed by the French police, was
killed in a shootout with suspected terrorists in the
Saint-Denis area of Paris, while searching for suspects involved in the
November 2015 Paris attacks. •
Finn, a German Shepherd of the
Hertfordshire Constabulary in
England. In 2016, Finn and his handler were both stabbed; the case started a campaign to improve legal protection for public service animals, resulting in a 2019 act of parliament known as "Finn's Law". • , a German Shepherd of the Hungarian police, the most successful police dog ever in service from 1954 to 1963. He died after stepping on a landmine on the Austrian border, which was heavily fortified at the time. His body is preserved at the , the Hungarian national police service's museum in
Budapest. • K9 Big Wolf - See #Faithful after owner's death •
Rajah, a
German Shepherd, was the first
police dog to serve in
New Zealand. •
Sirius, a
Labrador Retriever explosive detection police dog of the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department was the only documented canine fatality during the
September 11 attacks. • Sombra, a German Shepherd detection dog, of the
National Police of Colombia is credited for over 200 arrests and the seizure of over 9 tons of
illegal drugs. The
Clan del Golfo paramilitary group placed a bounty on her life. •
Zanjeer was a Labrador Retriever who served as a detection dog with the Mumbai Police in
Maharashtra state of India. Due to his impeccable service detecting many explosives and other weapons—in particular during the
1993 Mumbai bombings—he was honoured with a full state funeral. •
Zuyaqui, a German Shepherd who served the
Mexican Federal Police; his body is preserved at the
Museo del Enervante drug-trafficking museum.
Other working dogs , image published in
The Evening World, 10 July 1912 • Basil and Budgie, pitbull terrier bitches who fronted deathgrind band
Caninus. The dogs provided lead vocals on three albums between 2004 and 2005. •
Bunkō, a Japanese 'firefighting dog' who lived with and assisted the
Otaru Fire Service during the early 20th century. • Don, aka
Don the Talking Dog, who vocalized several words. •
Gabi, a German Shepherd who worked as a
guard dog at the
Belgrade Zoo and managed to defeat an escaped
jaguar. •
Help, a
Scotch Collie who collected for the Orphans Fund of the
Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. •
K9 Killer, a
Belgian Malinois dog that works with the
Kruger National Park's Special Operations team to prevent rhinoceros poachers in South Africa; awarded a
PDSA Gold Medal. •
Lucky and Flo, a pair of black
Labrador Retriever detection dogs, notable for being the first animals trained to detect
optical discs by scent. They are sponsored by the
MPAA and
FACT, as part of an initiative to combat
copyright infringement relating to
motion pictures and
DVD discs. • Oscar, "
Hypnodog", a black Labrador Retriever, famous for performing as a "canine hypnotist". •
Owney, an official
United States Postal Service dog and mascot, rode the trains with the mail in the 19th century, traveled around the world and more than in his lifetime. After death, his body was stuffed and is on display in the
National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C. Featured on a
Forever Stamp, and subject of many books. • Sirrah, a black border collie, who herded sheep with
James Hogg, the "Ettrick Shepherd," in Scotland in the early 1800s. •
Smoky, a Yorkshire Terrier, the first
therapy dog. •
Station Jim, a popular and successful
collector for the Widows' and Orphans' fund of the
Great Western Railway. • Hansel, a 'firefighting dog' and first
pit bull arson detection K-9 in the U.S. The dog's handler is New Jersey firefighter Tyler Van Leer of the
Van Leers. ==Other heroic dogs==