If you love pups ... {+ a fabulous wedding registry idea ...}

This post is a little off-topic but when my husband shared this article with me, I couldn't *not* share with you. This story is heart-breaking and eye-opening. It made me want to take action ... and I hope by sharing this story, it will open more people's eyes to some of the lesser-known tragedies happening in Afghanistan and, in turn, might help with the efforts to save a few Afghan pups.

From The Australian:
[Australian Federal Police officer Narelle] Jensz had gone to war to train Afghan police but it was as the unofficial dog rescuer, vet and dog-adoption agent in southern Afghanistan that she had become something of a legend.

In her 10-month tour, the 37-year-old has treated countless dogs and successfully adopted 15 Afghan strays out to returned coalition soldiers across the world, many of whom have testified to the rehumanising impact of their animal companions.

Among them is Rusty Bradley, a veteran US special forces commander and author of Lions of Kandahar, who told The Australian he had been inspired to adopt a pup after watching Jensz and a group of Australian soldiers, medics and police with the dogs.

"I hadn't expected to form such a bond in a war but it happened," said Bradley of his pup Saber, who arrived in the US this week.

"We travelled the roads of Kandahar in every vehicle imaginable, mostly with him in the passenger seat tucked into a spare set of body armour."

But Wylie's injuries were so bad Jensz judged him unlikely to last the night.

Remarkably he did but his torments were far from over.

Two weeks later Jensz received another call. Local dog fighters had cut off Wylie's ears and had scalped him in the process, before using the same homemade knife to cut his muzzle wide open from his nose to under his eye. He was patched up again by Jensz and a team of Australian Defence Force doctors only to return from his perilous forays outside the base with new injuries -- a stab wound to the chest and a savagely docked tail.

Then, horrifically, one day he limped back to the camp after Kandahar locals -- many of whom despise dogs only marginally less than they do coalition soldiers -- had tried to sever his penis.

Three times Jensz and ADF doctors had to restitch the wound.

"Once we stitched for 90 minutes without anaesthetic," she said. "I can't fathom how much pain he must have been in but he just lay there motionless, looking up at us. He didn't bite or growl once."

Wylie's refusal to submit became legendary around the Kandahar base.

But when he was grabbed again by local thugs and thrown under a passing car it seemed his luck had finally run out.

"It was the first time I felt defeated because Wylie had become a symbol of Kandahar," Jensz said. "So many soldiers identified with him but I just couldn't work out how to keep this dog alive. That was the day I decided I had to take him with me."

With the help of a British and a US soldiers' animal companion fund, Wylie was evacuated to London via Kabul six weeks ago to begin the long road of quarantine hurdles that Jensz hopes will eventually bring him to Australia and her wildlife rescue property just outside Canberra.

In the meantime someone -- Jensz has no idea who -- has set up a Facebook page for Wylie.

He now has more than 100 friends who regularly post updates of his progress and donate money to his fundraising site. Wylie is visited in British quarantine almost daily by strangers who have heard his story from returned soldiers.

"The humanity just makes me speechless," said Jensz, who hopes to set up an Australian soldiers' animal companion fund on her return next month.

"Looking after the dogs was so far removed from war and conflict that it was a good sanity check and decompression for me.

"But when I started to see the lives of soldiers around me changing, it became not so much about saving the dogs as saving these guys."

To donate to the fundraising site, visit http://nowzaddonations.chipin.com/wylie

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To read the full article on Wylie, click here.

Also, there is now a SAC {Soldier's Animal Companions} Fund set up where you can easily make donations, perfect for a charity wedding registry! The purpose of the SAC Fund is "to promote the welfare and rescue of animals in war-torn Middle Eastern countries where our soldiers are stationed. These animals have often provided immeasurable comfort to those serving in harsh and extremely difficult situations."

If you're considering doing a charity wedding registry {that's what J and I did and it was wonderful - highly recommend! We chose to help with the Hurricane Katrina relief funds as we had just moved to Biloxi, Miss.}, I think the SAC Fund would be an incredible choice for any animal-loving couple. If we had known about the SAC Fund when we were getting married, it definitely would have been included on our registry.

If you do decide to contribute in any way, please let me know in the comments or by e-mail {theclassicbride@gmail.com}! This issue is pretty close to my heart and I would love to know that I am, in some small + teensy way, helping the cause. xoxo.