Combat dog with two tours in Iraq fatally shot in Wyoming

Matthew Bessler with his dog Mike in June. His handler, Matthew Bessler, is requesting that Mike receive the military burial he deserves.

Mike is also afflicted with PTSD, though Bessler said Mike was a happy dog who enjoyed running after tennis balls. The cyclist told police that he felt threatened by Mike and has not been cited for any wrongdoing. The two worked to detect explosives and hunt insurgents over a 16-month period, which earned the duo two Bronze Stars.

‘This soldier was found fatally wounded by his owner and friend Matt Bessler (also a military war veteran) after Matt returned home from a hunting trip.

Because Bessler’s job demanded that he read Mike’s body language, the Army News Service noted, the bond between dog and handler “had to be seamless”.

The combat-turned-service dog had transitioned from helping his owner on the battlefield to aiding him with the fight against symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) at home. He fended the dog off with his bike while retrieving a gun from his pack.

The dog, Mike, was shot by a man on a bicycle who said Mike attacked him. When Mike didn’t retreat, he shot and killed the dog.

Bessler does not believe the cyclist’s claims that Mike, who was shot in the backside by the biker’s bicycle-mounted holstered revolver, was acting aggressively enough to warrant the shooting.

Perhaps most curious, Bessler told the Billings Gazette, is that a neighbor whose window was open didn’t hear barking before the gunshot.

“If the guy was actually fending the dogs off with a bicycle, (Mike) would have really been barking, and there was no barking”, the Army veteran said. “It was just a gunshot”.

Bessler told the Billings Gazette that Mike had helped calm his frequent anxiety, one of several afflictions that has hampered him after several tours in Iraq.

“I mean, it’s way too soon”, Bessler said. Because he was, he was with me nearly everywhere I went and he was always playing and he was always… he always wanted to play and everyone loved him.