Ricochet was born into a program that trained service dogs. She was great at learning to turn on lights, open doors, pull down zippers, and so on.

But there was a problem … one that ultimately led through sadness, to a new, joyful direction for Richochet’s life.

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CNN has the story of the many dogs who served in Vietnam, and the handlers who recall them with a mixture of gratitude and grief.

Sabi waits to be reunited with her handler

A few weeks ago we mentioned Sabi, a bomb-sniffing dog who’d been missing in Afghanistan for 14 months.

Well, it turns out she wasn’t exactly missing.

A different kind of K-9 story, now at Dogstuff

The Israeli Defense Forces have the only K-9 special forces unit in the world. After retirement, many of their dogs go on to work with police departments, including some in the United States.

Miky, who sniffed out explosives in Israel, is now working as a police dog with the Helena, Montana department. There was only one problem when Miky came to Montana — he was trained in Hebrew, and didn’t understand English commands.

A local rabbi stepped in to help and taught Sgt. John Fosket, Miky’s partner, how to pronounce the unfamiliar words. “Once I learned the correct Hebrew commands, our relationship changed and our bond intensified,” Sgt. Fosket said. The team were even called in by the Secret Service on a recent presidential visit.

Nuna and Alisqsi, 10 weeks old, pose for the camera

The sister puppies make a total of 33 dogs at the park.

Among the many heartwarming videos of dogs welcoming troops back home from duty is this one of Gracie greeting Captain Andrew Schmidt on his return from Afghanistan:

Note: Capt. Schmidt posted this a few years ago, and recently it started getting a lot of attention. He is a bit uncomfortable with his 15 minutes of fame, and is using it to urge everyone who watches the clip to adopt from shelters (Gracie is a rescue dog), support their local shelters, and especially, he says, to remember and support all the troops on active duty.

Another reunion story is that of Sabi, a bomb-sniffing dog who disappeared after a battle in Afghanistan. She was missing for 14 months before a soldier encountered her at a remote outpost and brought her back to her base.

Sabi is in good health despite her 14-month absence

Melissa Joseph and Baxter

Please read Janet Kinosian’s beautiful post about Baxter, a certified therapy dog. At 19.5 years, Baxter was the world’s oldest therapy dog, working — at the end of his own life — with end-of-life patients at a hospice.

This video shows Baxter with some of his patients:

A book about Baxter will raise money for various rescue charities. Baxter died not long ago, but even in death he will bring comfort to others.

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Porsche was originally trained as a seeing-eye dog. But the black Labrador flunked her certification because she just couldn’t stop sniffing.

Her nose led Porsche from one avenue of work to another: for the last five years, she’s been a highly successful accelerant detector for the Philadelphia fire department, nosing out gasoline, kerosene, charcoal-lighter fluid, and other substances used to set fires.

Porsche was recently honored, along with two other dogs and a number of humans, for her heroic efforts. Fire officials credit her with helping to pinpoint the causes of over 300 fires, including 100 arsons.