Free Top Dog: The Story Of Marine Hero Lucca Presented By Maria Goodavage Digital

is the story of Marine Corps hero Lucca K, a German shepherdBelgian Malinois mix, offleash IEDdetecting military working dog MWD, Lucca conductedmissions over three deployments during her six year career and saved countless soldiers and marines without injury except her own, On March,, with a dozen Special Forces soldiers in the Nahr Saraj district of Afghanistan, Lucca detonated an IED and lost her left forelimb.


Lucca had two handlers in her career, Marine Staff Sgt, Chris Willingham and Cpl. Juan “ROD”

Rodriguez, who saved her life after the explosion, Goodavage captures the pure essence of the handlerdog bond when she writes of Willinghams extended transfer of the leash to Rodriguez, Lucca is retired and was adopted by Willingham and his family,

The DOD does not give dogs awards, but the Marine Corps League of Tuscaloosa gave her a Purple Heart plague, the VFW in Fairfax, Virginia gave her an honorary position in its organization.

The book is a beautifully told story told through the eyes of the handler, I enjoyed this true story and if you are a dog person you will to, I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible, Neil Shah narrated the story,
A quick read. Some nice photos.
A heartwarming story about Lucca and her handlers as well as a nice simple/quick glimpse into the training of working dogs and their life while on assignment.
I was pleased to learn how the views of working dogs have changed for the better over the years, How if this story had taken place years before she would have been put down instead of saved, How dogs are now brought back instead of abandoned, All very positive changes helping to move toward giving these animals the dignity and respect they earn and deserve, For portions of this book I needed to read through the tears in my eyes, One of my favorite books ever, In full disclosure, several of the main players in the story The Chris amp Jill Willingham Family I'm proud to call friends, Having a relationship with the Willinghams certainly contributed to an added layer of connection with the tale, And having met Lucca is every bit of an honor, But the story of Lucca and her service transcends this reader's personal experience with her family, This enjoyable book shares her heroism as a brave Marine that served dutifully to keep so many service men amp women safe in the fight for freedom across the globe.
The book uses thorough research and accounts to bring the reader to the front lines of Lucca's service, from her first days being chosen to serve to her presentday retirement.
It is a reminder of the pains of war, Of the endurance and support of families back home awaiting their loved ones to return from battle, It is a peek into the impact of service on those families, And it is a reminder of the humanity that lies within the entire experience, This book made me smile, Laugh. Cry. It moved me in a way few books have, detailing real human and animal emotion, And any book that can solicit that range of emotion effectively is surely worth high praise, Interesting how a story of one amazing animal can give a perspective we fail to sometimes recognize otherwise, Cannot say enough good about this book, Highly, highly recommended. And a big 'Roll Tide' to my friends, the Willinghams, . . and, of course, to Marine hero Lucca, This is a true story about Lucca, a war service dog, and her handlers, Chris Willingham and Juan 'Rod' Rodriguez, Lucca was highly sought after for her outstanding work that led to an extraordinary career of some fourhundred missions in the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lucca was the top dog in sniffing out IEDs and weapons and saving many, many lives,
Her dedication and devotion to her handlers became an inspiration to all those she came in contact with,
Dog lovers this is your kind of book,
I did receive this free book thru Goodreads, com. This book will tear at your heartstrings, I cried for a good/of this book and am still so happy that I read it, You really get to see and feel the relationship of the military working dog and their handlers while also going through their time overseas.
Great reminder of what the amazing people in our military have been through sinceand are still facing today, I love love Lucca and will always remember her! What an amazing book to remind us that "sometimes it takes a dog to remind us of our humanity.
" It was great to be educated on the marine dog handlers and their Specialized Search Dogs SSD, They have an unbreakable, strong bond of loyalty, friendship amp love, RIP Bram, Kory Wiens, Coopalop amp Grief, It was amazing to read about you, Thank you to all the military dog handlers and their intelligent dogs for your service, courage, dedication and bravery,.stars

I love animals and I come from a military family so this book called to me when I saw it on NetGalley, Plus, look at that cover, that expressive, handsome face.
How could I resist Obviously, I couldn't,

I'd heard of military dogs before of course and had a vague idea of what they did, There are different jobs, all of them at least the ones in this book relying on a sense of smell, Lucca is a German Shepherd and Malinois mix, bred in the Netherlands specifically for military work, She was purchased by the US Marines to train, Her story starts in Afghanistan with her second handler then quickly jumps back to when she meets her first handler, a Marine named Chris Willingham.
We see her training and we see the bond forming between her and Willingham, Lucca's job is to sniff out IEDs and other weapons, She's so good at it that during her Marine career she saves hundreds of lives both military and civilian and doesn't lose a single man out on patrol with her.


The story is not just Lucca's but that of her handler Chris Willingham, A longtime dog man and devoted Marine, he believes strongly in the work that Lucca and other military working dogs do, He's a passionate supporter and spreads the word both within the military and later in the civilian world, We see his loyalty to the dog handlers that he trains and that he works with, He takes on their wellbeing as his own and struggles when one is killed in action, He and Lucca served two deployments together and were partners for several years, Goodavage does an excellent job showing us Willingham's passion, loyalty, and struggles, and his pride in and love for Lucca, When he makes the difficult decision, for both his sake and his family's sake, to give up dog handling, we feel his pain at losing Lucca and losing the work he loved so much.
He gets to personally choose her next handler, Rod Rodriguez,

Although Lucca misses Willingham, it doesn't take long for she and Rod to bond, He knew of her and had met her before so he was excited and honored to be chosen as her new handler, But, he knew from the outset that when Lucca retired, Willingham would adopt her, Lucca was Rod's only while she served, Still, he came to love her just as much as Willingham did, When she's injured on duty, he follows her to the different hospitals and even sleeps with her in her kennel to keep her company.
I admit, I teared up at times,

Goodavage did a fantastic job of describing the missions, the set up, life overseas, and of relaying Lucca's personality, Lucca's friendly, affectionate, serious on duty and silly off duty, She's proud of doing a good job, At times, Goodavage goes overboard and anthropomorphizes Lucca and some of her canine peers but for the most part, she manages to skip that pitfall.
The humans are not neglected either, I felt as if I knew Willingham and I fear that if I ever meet him, I may start talking to him as if we're already acquainted.
We don't get to know Rodriguez quite as well which is unfortunate but I liked what I saw of him, Especially the love and care he gives her when she's injured, I was glad to see that military changed it's policy and no longer abandoned or euthanized dogs who finished their service, By the time Lucca was injured, she was treated and then retired, I teared up again when Rod had to hand her over to Willingham and his family but some of the tears were happy tears.
Willingham knew how much Lucca meant to Rod and took extra care to include him,

I had a few gripes about the story, The first was that at times it was over the top on the 'rah rah America is great and wonderful and we're here to save everyone' mentality.
Granted, given the story, I expected some of that but I hoped that Goodavage as the author and biographer would have been more objective than the people involved and might have cast a more critical eye.
I also wish that the book had included photographs I assume none were put in for security reasons but they would have added immensely to the story.
My other gripes I already mentioned the occasional anthropomorphizing and that we don't get as full a picture of Rodriguez as we do of Willingham.


There's a happy ending for Lucca, Willingham, and Rodriguez, Well, considering they're all still alive, that state is subject to change but the book ends on a high note for all three of them.
I enjoyed meeting Lucca, her canine boyfriends, her human handlers, and the other dog handlers, I enjoyed seeing and learning more about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and learning about military working dogs, The dogs, their handlers and everyone who's on the frontlines has my respect, I enjoyed the book and definitely recommend it for dog lovers, animal lovers, and anyone wanting a closer look at the wars,

ETA: In a nice bit of serendipity, this news article showed up on my Yahoo page shortly after this post went live sitelink yahoo. com/retiredmilitar This is the story of Hero War Dog Lucca, The story spans from when the marines acquired her to her retirement and a little after, Her two tours with Willingham were covered, Her career ending injury during her tour with Rodriguez was covered as well, Its not too sentimental or too graphic or gory, It seems to be just the right balance, A very touching storya truly amazing dog!!

I had the honor to go to a war dog funeral a few years ago.
There is a war dog memorial/cemetery no too far from me, The dog the funeral was for had retired, was adopted by his handler and spent his last years as the family pet, It was a very emotional experience!! I'll admit that I was sold on Lucca just from the coverhow could a story about that face not be amazing And I'm happy to report that I was rightwhat an incredible story.
Not only was Lucca a hero in war, she was one after, too, The vivid details throughout the story almost make you feel like you were right there with her, and I love the strong relationship she formed with both Willingham and Rod.
I also loved how aware Willingham was of the attachment Rod had with Lucca and how he worked to ease the transition in her retirement.
I think my favorite chapters were the ones at the end, detailing her "final mission" and all the good she did in retirement.
Though the exact mission may have changed, Lucca is a service dog through and through, always ready to help those around her, Parts of the story were a little choppy, but I loved all the different tales about Lucca and how she interacted with the world around her.
A must for any dog lover! Good book, Very complete story of a great dog and important work trying to save lives, It is sad to read this book now as all the lives and money spent on the war has gone for naught, We needed to get out of Iraq but not in the way that the Biden administration did to leave those who helped us in the lurch and give the country to the insurgents.


Lots' of good details, Not as much as I prefer on training dogs for this work as I have appreciated in other books, During one part for a a difficult surgery operation, maybe too much details for some, but others may appreciate, The trip to a home with a previous handler and honors and activities after that homecoming maybe went a bit long, Some who want more action in the war dog books may find more of that in other books, but there is a fair numbers of encounters with some not ending so well.
Can't think of a better hero dog than Lucca, Loved how the dog was alive at the end of the book so that means she will live forever, :.Rating
.Number of tissues to get through the book, I love stories about service animals there's just something heartwarming and utterly amazing about what these animals are able to do, It was especially interesting to get a peek into the world of Military Working Dogs MWDs, in terms of how/where they are bred and trained, and exactly what they do when they are 'on the job'.
I would've liked to have known a bit more, but I suppose some of the training strategy and tactics are a bit classified.
Regardless, this was an excellent story a bit slow in the middle, but don't let that deter you, I already knew some about Lucca's story as my company American Airlines helped transport her to her retirement which is a happytear story in itself but it was really interesting to learn more about Lucca's life and her special skills.
I knew these dogs were amazing, but wow, I dare you not to be impressed once you read what they really do bring to the fight, I definitely have a greater respect now for MWDs, along with those who train them and those who bond with them and fight the hard fight with them.


To supplement the photos in the book, here's a video of Lucca's sendoff to Helsinki and her reunion with her original handler up on her retirement:
sitelink com/
and
sitelink aa. com/en/ju/christopherw
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