Western Outdoor Times - Times Spent Outdoors: Priceless!

In February 1944, an American soldier discovered a Yorkshire terrier dog in an abandoned trench in the jungles of New Guinea, which received the nickname "Smokey". It was owned by Ohio corporal William Wynn, who bought it from the soldiers for two Australian pounds. For the next two years, Smokey was with her master in the Pacific theater of operations.

The dog participated in 12 air and sea rescue and photo reconnaissance missions. During these operations, Smokey was often under fire in a soldier's backpack for a long time. She survived at least 150 air raids and two typhoons in Okinawa. Smokey also made jumps with a special parachute from a height of 9.1 m. And Wynn said that she warned him about the threat of a bombing by barking and behavior, which saved his life.

Once a dog saved the labor of 250 workers at an airfield. They would have had to dig a new ditch to lay the cable. This would also require the relocation of 40 warplanes. A buried old narrow pipe was found. The dog was placed at one end of the pipe, and its owner called Smokey from the other end. And a tiny dog with a wire tied to it, was not afraid to crawl through this long tunnel.

Smokey is also considered the world's first professional "treatment dog" - she entertained the wounded by showing them all sorts of tricks. In this capacity, the dog worked for 12 years, during and after World War II.

There are a total of six monuments to Smokey in the United States. In addition, the Yorkshire Terrier National Rescue awards an annual "Smokey Award" to rescue dogs that excel that year.