http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/brockport/?p=3028

Joe and Nogo/Artie with members of the Brockport High School Environmental Club last week. The club helped pay to bring the pup home from Iraq for Joe. photo by Deb Moyer

The area on base where Joe lived was fully fenced off with a barbed wire fence, but the dog kept finding his way back to him.

A Gates solider and his Iraqi dog “Artie” are enjoying the holidays together thanks to students from Brockport High School.

“Artie” are enjoying the holidays together thanks to students from Brockport High School.

This fall the High School Environmental Club raised $500 to help Joe Wilkens bring Artie (formerly named “Nogo”) home from Iraq.

Joe found the pup this summer while serving with the Army National Guard 105th MP company out of Buffalo in Mosul, Iraq.

Nogo followed Joe home to his base one day when he was walking home from a medical training class.

The military has a “no pet” policy so Joe couldn’t keep Artie and after the third warning he was taken away (set on other side of the gate and let go).

The area on base where Joe lived was fully fenced off with a barbed wire fence, but the dog kept finding his way back to him. He eventually named him “Nogo” – (after the pass/fail test system: When you pass a test it is a “go” – and he was a “no go”)

Joe and the pup bonded despite the barriers and he said he felt like he was at home when Nogo was around.

When Joe was to be sent home he worried about leaving Nogo behind. He learned about Operation Baghdad Pups

The organization is a part of the SPCA International. It’s motto is “No Buddy Left Behind” and provides veterinary care and coordinates complicated logistics and transportation requirements in order to reunite pets from war zones with their service men and women back in the U.S.

On September 17 Operation Baghdad Pups picked up Nogo in Mogul and he was quarantined for one month before he was flown into DC. He was reunited with Joe when he returned home to Rochester on Thanksgiving.

It costs $1,000 to bring a dog home through Operation Baghdad Pups. When the High School Environmental Club heard about Dan and Nogo they raised $500 and Invisible Fence donated $500 to pay the fee. The club raised the money by hosting a Kids Night Out.

Last week Joe and Artie visited Brockport High and met members of the club that made their special relationship back home possible.

Merry First Christmas on American soil Nogo/Artie! And thank you for your service Joe – it is truly appreciated.