“LEAVE NO DOG BEHIND”— SEAL DOG HANDLER RECALLS LOSING K9 IN IRAQ

About this video

A former military dog handler recounts his experience working with Tyson, an alpha dog skilled in odor detection. The handler describes how Tyson was later transferred to another handler who deployed to Iraq, where in November 2017 Tyson was killed when their vehicle was hit by rockets. The handler criticizes that the team didn’t retrieve Tyson’s body themselves and memorialized the dog by having a custom knife made with Tyson’s fur in the handle.

Key takeaways

• The handler describes Tyson as an alpha dog who was strong in bite work and odor detection, though initially difficult to work with
• The handler recounts that Tyson was killed by a rocket strike in Iraq in November 2017, and criticizes that partner forces rather than the team retrieved the body
• The handler memorialized Tyson by commissioning a custom knife with the dog’s fur embedded in the handle and his face engraved on the blade

Episode details: published August 4, 2025 · 7.2K views · 2:10 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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