Glory Hounds – (Animal Planet)

When Osama Bin Laden was killed, a military working dog was part of the team on the ground, working alongside his handler to help capture him. Throughout the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, over 600 military working dogs walked into a war zone alongside human partners.  GLORY HOUNDS is a two-hour, first-of-its-kind documentary that saw embedded camera crews gain unprecedented access to document how the natural bond between a boy and his dog becomes magnified by the insanity of combat.

Dogs are said to be man’s best friend. In Afghanistan, dogs are best friends, partners, and comrades in arms; they’re also often the best defense against the Taliban’s weapon of choice –improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, hidden randomly in the sand. Because the MWDs are so adept at identifying these weapons before they explode, the dog teams have become one of the Taliban’s prime targets. While they’re providing invaluable intelligence, these dogs form unbreakable bonds with the handlers who train them. To their handlers, MWDs are not merely gear; they’re weapons with hearts, minds, and souls. In GLORY HOUNDS, as in war, some dogs and handlers come home, some return forever changed, and some don’t come home.

Permission to film in the active war zone required more than a year of discussions among producers and four branches of the US Military. Upon gaining access, camera teams filming the stories told in GLORY HOUNDS acquired specialized training before spending six weeks in Afghanistan embedded with these troops.

GLORY HOUNDS is produced for Animal Planet by Ten100. The film is directed and executive produced for Ten100 by John Dorsey and Andrew Stephan. Lisa Lucas is executive producer for Animal Planet. Vice president of production for Animal Planet is Jason Carey.

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