Rossi
The Brave and Loyal War Dog
Written by Haddie Bartlett
Illustrated by Loraena Nissley
For the series A BOOK by ME - True Stories Written by Kids for Kids
I’m reading a few titles in this series to siblings who are home schooled as a favor to their mother. They love the stories of heroes best. Especially the three with the heroes being animals, two dogs and one horse. They couldn’t believe this dog Rossi could sniff out bombs for the military. He also met a United States President and received many honors for his service. We decided that’s pretty cool! I think best of all, Rossi retired and lived at his grandpa’s house. Grandpa served in Vietnam and Rossi helped him recover from his PTSD. Out of all his missions, I wonder if that’s the one this hero dog loved most of all. God bless our brave veterans (two legged and four legged) and God bless America!
Deb Bowen, A BOOK by ME
Author Haddie Bartlett
“I want to thank Mrs. Pam Johnson as well as my mom for helping me with this book. It’s amazing for me to learn about such an intelligent and brave dog fighting for justice and peace right alongside his human companions.”
– Haddie Bartlett
“Illustrating the Rossi story taught me so much about the incredible things military dogs do. They work hard sniffing bombs to keep our military and civilians safe.”
– Loraena Nissley
Rossi – The Brave and Loyal War Dog
What an amazing dog Rossi was! I (Pam Johnson) met him three years ago at our Rebecca Parke DAR Veteran Program at the Galesburg Walmart where our veteran chairman, Linda Howarter, honored him with a special DAR Chapter Award. Because he was older, Rossi was carried into the store by his owner’s dad, Bob Spears, a Vietnam veteran. Rossi, who was then around 14 years old, was living with Bob and giving him a lot of love and affection until he passed away in 2020. At that time, his legs were giving out and his heart was weak. Rossi lived until 2020 when the local Watson funeral home buried him with honors. We are thankful to hear some amazing stories about Rossi’s work in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Chris Spears, a Navy veteran, received Rossi, a Czechoslovakian Shepherd, when the pup was 18 months old. Rossi trained with Chris, while he was stationed in San Antonio, Texas, as an explosive detection dog. Later, they were stationed in San Diego, California, for training near the ocean. Rossi excelled in all commands and duties over all of the other dogs. After training, Rossi and Chris were stationed in Iraq in 2009, and later the dog went with another handler to Afghanistan in 2011-2012. After Afghanistan, Rossi had other handlers in the United States up until 2015, when he was returned to his original handler, Chris. At that time, Chris and Rossi met again in Chicago, and Rossi was extremely excited to be with him. From then on Rossi and Chris would be together living near Galesburg in a small town called Knoxville, Illinois.
Each day in the field, Rossi was trained to attack using English commands. He had been trained as a military K-9 in bomb detection, scouting, building searches, and vehicle extractions. While speaking of Rossi’s amazing military exploits for the troops, Mike Lummis, Quartermaster from the VFW Post #2257, said that Rossi was definitely allowed to “join their ranks.” Rossi was retired as a military working dog in 2015, and Chris said he wanted him to lead a normal dog’s life from there on. The local newspaper, the Register Mail, wrote a nice article about the returning hero in Knoxville named Rossi.
Rossi worked hard as a military dog. Chris states that once, while serving in Iraq, Rossi awakened him in the middle of the night. Chris knew that something was wrong, so he woke the rest of his unit and found out that they were about to be attacked. The tent next to his was bombed, and his tent received shrapnel. Thankfully, Chris was up and prepared because of Rossi’s alert reactions.
There was another time when Chris and Rossi exchanged patrols with another buddy and his dog. This did not turn out well for his friend and dog; they were almost killed while on patrol. It is hard to think that Chris and Rossi could have been seriously injured as well. Chris, a Christian, knew that God had other plans for him and his dog. Rossi served courageously in the Navy for about nine years. Some veterans recalled that Rossi could sniff out bombs deeply embedded in the ground, saving numerous lives.
After Rossi came back to the U.S., he was used for security details for the President and foreign dignitaries. Other places Rossi served were at the College Bowl, at the Mexican border (for Homeland Security), at NFL games, and in Congress protecting various legislators. Because of his work, Rossi was always flown first class. After all, this was an amazing dog!
Chris and his dad Bob Spears with Rossi
When he retired, Rossi got to be just a dog. At his home in Knoxville, Illinois, he enjoyed playing with his toys, especially his Kong that was filled with food for him to dig out. Although he was quite protective of Chris and his family, he could be loving and gentle, too, especially around Chris’ children. Other children could also approach Rossi and pet him, since he loved that kind of attention. Part of his unique personality had to do with his early training in San Diego. In spite of learning to love the ocean, he did not care for the snow. In fact, he had to be carried over the snow!
Rebecca Parke Chapter DAR ladies honored Rossi Military Working Dog at a Walmart Veteran Program
The local chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution decided to honor Rossi even more by purchasing him a veteran brick. Bob Spears, his wife, Teresa, and their grandchildren came to a dedication of this brick which was placed at the Galesburg Lincoln Park Veteran Memorial. At that time, Rossi was still alive, but he was so crippled he could not be moved. At Rossi’s brick dedication, Bob and his wife told many of the DAR members about the exceptional work Rossi did as a military working dog. Gary Metivier, formerly a local news anchor, did a documentary on him. Metivier loves telling stories that matter, like Rossi’s tale.
We are thankful we had the chance to learn about this amazing dog. This story should definitely be told, along with those of other military dogs, who deserve to be remembered and honored because they have protected and saved so many veteran and civilian lives. We should always pay tribute to them for their heroic deeds.
Rossi
The story of a brave and loyal war dog. Rossi has been honored for his faithful service to the United States.
A BOOK by ME, a book series developed by Deb Bowen, empowers students to preserve history by telling the story of unsung heroes in our communities. For the young participants, it’s a guided cross-curricular project that gathers stories of people who do amazing things but have received little or no recognition. Students learn how to publish a picture book that is a primary source document with photographs and a biography.
Since 2003, Deb Bowen has been arranging meetings between students and individuals from the WWII generation. This intergenerational storytelling results in unique storybooks written and illustrated by kids for kids in the A BOOK by ME series. More about Deb Bowen >
