Adam Wylie had tears in his eyes when he greeted the new addition to his family, a military working dog he spent two years with at Osan Air Base in South Korea. Emra may have been a little more gray around the muzzle, but when they were reunited in Cincinnati, Ohio, this month, the pair picked up right where they left off when he retired in 2014.
“I can’t express how happy I am right now to see her,” he said in a Cincinnati Enquirer video.
When Emra, a 9-year-old Belgian Malinois, was a patrol dog in South Korea, she kept watch over the area around Osan Air Base and conducted safety sweeps during visits from officials, including President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, according to American Humane. The nonprofit organization worked with Crown Media Family Networks and donors to bring Emra to the U.S. They are the 32nd military dog-handler team American Humane has reunited.
As Emra ran toward him, wagging her tail, Wylie said, “Hey, baby!” It didn’t take long for him to find her favorite spot on her neck to be scratched.
Emra will spend her retirement with Wylie, his wife and their daughter in Bethel, Ohio. Wylie told the Enquirer that Emra kept him company during 10- to 14-hour shifts at Osan when his family was thousands of miles away.
“Words really can’t express the emotions,” he said. “I try my best to hold them back, but I didn’t think this was ever going to happen.”
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