Landmine Detection Dog Finds New Home in Alexandria

Blek may be from removed from the sands of Baghdad, but old habits die hard.

A former landmine detection dog, Blek, an 11-year-old German Shepherd, has found a new home with Kenneth and Gail Gardner of central Alexandria. He’s quiet and laid-back, his new owners say — but he still has to sniff everything in the house.

“If you open a drawer in the kitchen, he’ll stick his nose in and make sure that everything’s good there,” Kenneth said. “If you go in the bedroom and pull open a drawer, he had to have his nose in there to see if everything’s OK. Still, anything that comes in the house as a package, he has to check out before he’s satisfied that it’s OK.”

Blek’s journey to Alexandria started when Kenneth saw a newspaper ad for the Operation Baghdad Pups program, a part of the SCPA International, and responded that he would like to adopt a dog. Blek arrived in March.

The Gardners have had pets in the past but no dog since their beloved black lab died five years ago. This opportunity piqued their interest because the couple met and were married in Baghdad, where Gail was in the foreign service and Kenneth was in the U.S. Marine Corps, working as a security guard in at the Baghdad embassy. Both are now retired.

“We wanted another dog, but we didn’t want a puppy,” Gail said. “All of us, even the kids, we’re too old for puppies. So this just fit in perfectly.”

Blek was trained in Texas and in the Netherlands, Kenneth said, and worked in Baghdad for seven years. When the Gardners first adopted Blek, Kenneth slept on the floor by his side for the first month, and today he and Blek are joined at the hip.

“For the most part, if I get up and move, then I know he’s going to move with me,” he said. “I go from room to room, and he goes with me, and he has his favorite spots to plop down.”

Blek was a bit skittish when first adopted, but he’s learned to relax in his new home, Kenneth said.

“He’s the calmest, most easy-going guy you ever saw, except that at five-o’clock in the morning, he has the compelling thing with him: We’ve got to go check the perimeter,” he said. “We’ve got to go check the neighborhood to make sure things are safe.”

Next comes breakfast, and at 9 a.m. Kenneth and Blek hit Fort Ward Park, where Blek has found a group of fans. Blek is only aggressive around two things: one is his purple ball, which represents his reward for doing good work, and the second is food, which he heartily devours.

The Gardners’ three children and three grandchildren have also taken to Blek, and their youngest daughter has created a Facebook page for him. “He has more friends than any of us,” Kenneth said.

The Marshall Legacy Institute, which provides the funding to train the dogs to remove landmines, is having a gala in October in Washington, and the Gardners are attending, with Blek as the special guest.