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Today, we'd like to tip our hats to an unlikely hero: America's warrior dogs.

Man's best friend has been an invaluable soldier-companion for many years. They were vital in the Pacific campaign of WWII, a topic explored by documentary director Harris Done in "War Dogs of the Pacific." (Done is currently working on a second film about modern war dogs.)

"I was blown away by their mission," Done says. "They were able to use the dogs' superior senses to alert them to Japanese ambushes laying in wait in the dense jungles. They can hear your heart beating from 20 feet away, or smell someone approaching from a quarter-mile away."

The war dogs themselves become vital members of the team: "These dog handlers put their lives in the hands or nose of their dogs. That's quite a trust. There are incredible stories of Marines whose dogs were killed in combat, and they never recover from it."

In honor of these fearless canines, we spoke with Sergeant Mike Dowling -- a former Military Working Dog Handler with the Marines -- about how modern dogs are saving lives in Iraq and Afghanistan, sniffing out IEDs and braving firefights in Fallujah.

The few, the proud ...

Dowling grew up with dogs, and his family had trained canines to assist the blind. But when he signed up for the Marines he wasn't even aware that the armed forces employed specialized war dogs. As a member of the military police, Dowling was up against tough odds. Of 50 students in each MP class, only 2-5 will be certified as canine handlers -- yet he says that nearly 50 percent of each class wants the job. "Being a canine trainer is a huge responsibility. The animal itself, after all the training, is worth anywhere from around $20,000 to $50,000."

Good breeding

Believe it or not, during WWII, a great number of war dogs were domestic animals donated by American families. Things are a bit more controlled in the 21st century. Dowling explains that two breeds have proven themselves the most proficient at war-dog work: German Shepherds and Belgian Malinois. "They learn really quick, they love to work," he says. "Their instincts, their athleticism, their endurance ..." Doberman Pinschers are occasionally used, as well as Labradors -- but the latter breed only serves nonviolent detection duty, since "they're not very aggressive."

Hitting the books at Dog Training School

Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, is the headquarters of America's war-dog efforts. At that facility, members of all four branches of the armed services train, test and even breed working dogs under the auspices of the 341st Squadron. Puppies that have the chops to become war dogs are adopted by local families for a year before they begin training at Lackland's Dog Training School (DTS). Says Dowling, "When those dogs reach a certain certification level -- [they can] sit, stay, bite, release -- they will be sent out to the next base that needs a dog."

Finding a mate

"Dogs have personalities just like people have personalities," Dowling says. After completing DTS, a prospective war dog is examined by his new base's kennel master, who'll pair him with a simpatico handler. "It's not all about the dog. The handler and the dog make up a 'dog team.' Handlers need to learn just like dogs need to learn." Amazingly, the dog enjoys a higher rank than his human counterpart: "If I'm a corporal, my dog will be a sergeant. If I'm a sergeant, my dog will be a staff sergeant. We are taught to respect our dogs."

The nose as weapon

"A dog's greatest asset is his nose," says Dowling, pictured below with his dog Rex. Working dogs are trained to detect either narcotics or explosives. In Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter capability is obviously vital. "These war dogs are credited for saving literally thousands upon thousands of lives since the war has started. Some of these IEDs will be built where several will go off at once. Who knows how many lives they saved by finding that chain of IEDs? Also civilian lives -- I'm not just talking about military lives. They will find caches hidden under the ground or behind a wall in a house or out in the middle of nowhere -- IEDs all over the place. We can go out there, we have a tool, a weapon -- the dog -- that can find those. There's no machine out there that can do what a dog can do."

A dog is a bullet you can undo

Many war dogs are "dual-certified," which means they can engage in both detection and patrol work. "A patrol-certified dog means the dog knows how to bite a suspect," Dowling says. "It knows how to run after a suspect." Equally importantly, it knows when to "stand off" if the trainer decides that the original target shouldn't get mauled after all. "You can't recall the bullet back if you realize you shot it at the wrong person or if the person gave up ... We have the ability to call the dog off before they bite." Once the target is subdued, the war dog "escorts" them to the soldier. "If they try to run again, they can be right there to bite them."

No barking under pressure

Dowling's war dog, Rex, showed off the benefits of the regimen during their first firefight -- which just happened to be a two-and-a-half-hour battle in a little place called Fallujah: "It was a humongous firefight. Marines were shooting, a huge number of insurgents attacking us, tanks, air support ... through all the commotion and all the firing and all the stress around us, Rex performed so good. The fact that he remained calm the entire time -- not only calm, but obedient -- it gave me the most confidence in the world that we could take on anything. All the training we had done had paid off."

Hot dogs

"In Iraq and Afghanistan during the summertime it can get up to 130 degrees," Dowling says. "We needed to get our dog teams into areas where the climate was similar to that in the combat zones." Special ice vests and ice mats help the war dogs cool down in-country, but as Davis notes: ice melts pretty damn fast in the Middle East. A well-equipped war dog can be tricked out with a number of additional specialized accessories. "We can have booties that cover their pads if we know that we might be in an area where there might be shrapnel or glass," Dowling explains. "We also have Doggles. Those will cover the dog's eyes in sandstorms, or if a helicopter's going to be kicking up dust. If a bomb were to go off they would repel shrapnel." War-dog bulletproof vests do exist, but aren't commonly employed, since heavy equipment can be a drag for the animal.

Life after wartime

Get ready to cringe: Prior to 2001, all retired war dogs were euthanized. Thankfully, better ethics have since prevailed, and a law was passed to improve the lot of these canine fighters. Retired war dogs are most often adopted by their own handlers, Davis says. Otherwise they may be taken in by police departments, or conscripted to assist with future training at Lackland Air Force Base. Certain war dogs end up being taken in by ordinary American families. (Find out more about what's involved at militaryworkingdogadoptions.com.)

Mike Dowling runs a website, K 9 Pride, dedicated to war dogs as well as dogs working in the military and law enforcement.