Four-legged sergeant protected Canadian lives in Afghanistan

Sgt. Rey, a bomb-sniffing dog who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, appears on Power Play on Nov. 11, 2013.

She stands barely two feet off the ground, but for many soldiers, including some Canadians, Sgt. Rey provided invaluable security.

She’s also a Black Lab.

On Monday, Sgt. Rey and her owner, Lt.-Col. Kate Van Auken of the United States Armed Forces, were in Ottawa to take part in Remembrance Day ceremonies.

A decorated veteran, Rey completed a tour of Iraq and several in Afghanistan before retiring this past August. It was her job to sniff out deadly IEDs -- Improvised Explosive Devices -- the type of weapon that killed the majority of Canadians in Afghanistan. In Kandahar and Helmand province, Rey worked with the U.S. Marines as well as Canadian soldiers, alerting them to potential danger.

Her rank isn’t a gimmick: Rey is a real sergeant, and actually outranked her handlers.

“She has to have a senior rank to the handler so if the handler abuses the dog in anyway, you know it’s a chargeable offence,” Van Auken told CTV’s Mercedes Stephenson at the War Memorial in Ottawa on Monday. “It protects the asset. There is tons of money … and hours and years spent training these dogs for what they do and you can’t have any problems with that.”

Van Auken said that Rey, who on Monday wore a harness that held several of her medals, was well bred for her military role.

“Labs have an incredible sense of smell. They (soldiers) have equipment that is at checkpoints and out in the field … but the dog just has this incredible ability, and plus they have the loyalty and devotion and they want to protect,” Van Auken said. “So I think that this combined with her sense of smell is what makes a dog team so much better than some device.”

Rey didn’t retire from the military unscathed. According to Van Auken, Rey has developed a form of canine Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

“She’s a little stressed out, she has anxiety and doesn’t like to ride in the car too much when it slows down,” Van Auken said. “She was not travelling well anymore and they decided she was good for adoption at this point.”

Between 2002 and 2012, 158 Canadian military personnel were killed in Afghanistan, according to icasualties.org, a website that tracks military deaths. Of those 158 deaths, 93 were caused by IEDs, according to the site.

Van Auken, who spent time with many Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, said she was impressed with the way Canada honours the men and women who have fought for their country.

“Canada really rolls it out, they take it seriously, it’s impressive,” she said. “Because it gets lost, it gets lost though time.”