Sarbi and her handler, Sergeant D, in January 2011.
The Australian Army’s most famous hound, Sarbi, retired from active service on Monday after six years of sniffing out dangerous bombs and weapons and saving countless lives.
Sarbi, who turned nine on September 11, retired as an explosives detection dog to live with her handler, Sergeant D, and his fiancé at their Sydney home.
She joins the experienced handler’s other dog, Vegas, who retired from her job as an EDD in 2005, and their cat.
“She’s settled in well. Vegas didn’t even bat an eyelid. She thinks it’s great that this new dog goes and gets the ball and drops it within easy reach for her to pick up,” Sgt D tells me via email.
The household cat, though, is another matter!
Sergeant D returned to Australia in early December after his fourth deployment to Afghanistan as an EDD handler since 2007 and was eager to lead Sarbi into her new life as a household pet.
The ball-mad black Newfoundland-Labrador retriever cross was twice deployed to Afghanistan with Sgt D – as he is known for operational security reasons – to sniff out improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and a range of other deadly weapons and bomb-making equipment.
She is the star of my fourth book, Saving Private Sarbi, The True Story of Australia’s Canine War Hero, which was published in October by Allen and Unwin and launched (see page 11 in Army, The Soldier’s Newspaper) by the former Chief of Army, Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie who told me earlier this year he wouldn’t be sending Sarbi back to a war zone. [click to continue…]
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