# Brutus



## 2719 (Feb 8, 2011)

The following was sent to me from a friend...thought I would share.


The K9 below is Brutus, a military K9 at McChord.. He's huge - part Boxer 

and part British Bull Mastiff and tops the 

scales at 200 lbs. His handler took the picture. 

Brutus is running toward me because he knows I 

have some Milk Bone treats, so he's slobbering 

away! I had to duck around a tree just before he got
to me in case he couldn't stop, but he did. 

Brutus won the Congressional Medal of Honor last
year from his tour in Iraq . His handler and 

four other soldiers were taken hostage by 

insurgents. Brutus and his handler communicate by
sign language and he gave Brutus the signal 

that meant 'go away but come back and find me'. 

The Iraqis paid no attention to Brutus. He came back
later and quietly tore the throat out of 

one guard at one door and another guard at 

another door. He then jumped against one of the 

doors repeatedly (the guys were being held in an 

old warehouse) until it opened. He went in and 

untied his handler and they all escaped. He's 

the first K9 to receive this honor. If he knows 

you're ok, he's a big old lug and wants to sit 

in your lap. Enjoys the company of cats.. 

K-9 Congressional Medal 

of Honor Winner. 

Thought 

you'd find this interesting. 

Talk 

about animal intelligence and bonding 

with humans!


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## Ruth (Nov 18, 2010)

It's a hoax.

Plus I don't think there would be a "leave and come back and look for me" command, where the dog knows he also has to attack other people or even know exactly what people to attack.


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## PonkiPoodles (Feb 25, 2009)

They should have chosen a better picture for that hoax...cause that looks like a german shephard to me. I would think a boxer/bullmastiff mix would look more like a bully breed than a german shepherd?!?!


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## 2719 (Feb 8, 2011)

Ruth said:


> It's a hoax.
> 
> Plus I don't think there would be a "leave and come back and look for me" command, where the dog knows he also has to attack other people or even know exactly what people to attack.



Thanks for the heads up.....didn't even think if it was or wasn't a hoax...guess I am too gullible.


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## cliffdweller (Jan 31, 2011)

From snopes ( snopes.com: K-9 Congressional Medal of Honor ) :

A representative of the Arizona Law Enforcement Canine Association wrote to us to give us the real background on the pictured dog:​

​​The dog's name is not Brutus; in fact, his name is 'Spike,' and he was never a military working dog. Spike is a retired Police Service Dog who served honorably during the years 2001 to 2007 with the Scottsdale Police Department's K-9 Unit in Scottsdale, Arizona, under his handler, Officer Scott DiIullo (who is still with the K-9 Unit and working with a new K-9 partner). Spike is a Belgian Malinois imported from Europe and weighs less than 100 pounds. Furthermore, police and military working dogs are NOT trained to fatally attack a subject they are deployed upon. Dogs used for handler protection are trained to bite and hold the subject until the subject is taken into custody. There is also no training method to teach a working dog to understand a hand signal to command the dog to leave the area, come back later and then attack.​


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