With a combined nine years of service, two military dogs are now fully entering their retired years, which started with an emotional reunion with their previous handlers.

U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) Sergeant Isaac Weissend and Marine Corps veteran Dalton Stone met in Japan while serving as K9 handlers for Poker and Aida for two-and-a-half years—quickly becoming best friends. However in 2022, they were forced to say goodbye to their German shepherds when Weissend was reassigned to another base and Stone left the Marines.

When the two best friends learned Poker and Aida were retiring, they jumped at the opportunity to adopt them and on May 4, they were finally reunited in Texas, a public relations representative for American Humane shared with Newsweek. Their service was celebrated and honored at a reunion party, with Weissend and Stone happily transitioning them back into a regular dog's life.

Getting these dogs back to their previous handlers didn't come easy. The two contacted American Humane, an animal welfare organization, to help with the logistics of bringing the dogs overseas and back to the United States, a costly and complicated process.

Along with covering the cost of travel, which included flying from Japan to California and then to Dallas, American Humane will also assist with veterinary bills for the rest of the dogs' lives. Poker needs to eat a special kind of food, which American Humane will be covering.

Weissend and Poker

Weissend and Poker joined forces in 2022 where they were certified as an explosives and patrol team. This included performing explosive detection for high-profile people. One special mission was when they worked in the Secret Service to conduct explosive sweeps of the flight lines, hotels, vehicles and buildings before President Joe Biden arrived during a trip to South Korea in 2022.

Stone and Aida

In September 2019, Stone and Aida teamed up and quickly afterward, they worked on narcotics and patrol. However, they didn't click immediately and were almost reassigned, but through patience and hard work, the duo managed. In fact, Stone believes the bond between the two worked when he realized Aida would be the one teaching him.

The duo performed health and comfort inspections, conducted building searches and safety patrols and supported the USMC Criminal Investigation Division with cases involving drugs.

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