Military dog team, whose story inspired a movie, to open AVMA Convention 2025
Megan Leavey’s journey from college dropout to Marine war veteran who fought to be reunited with Rex, her military working dog (MWD) during two tours in Iraq, is so compelling they made a movie about it.
Leavey will be telling her story—and Rex’s—during the keynote address at AVMA Convention 2025 and 40th World Veterinary Association Congress on July 19 in Washington, D.C. The keynote address, sponsored by Hill’s Pet Nutrition with support from the AVMA Trust, will be open to all convention attendees and guests.
A special screening of the 2017 film “Megan Leavey,” will be shown two days before on July 17 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
Meeting Rex
Born and raised in Valley Cottage, New York, Leavey didn’t dream of joining the Marine Corps and serving her country overseas. Then the twin towers of the World Trade Center fell on 9/11.
“My dad worked in New York City as a theatrical teamster, and his job took him all over the city,” recalled Leavey, who was 17 at the time. “Nobody had cellphones like they do now, and for hours we didn’t know if he was OK or what.”
Leavey’s father had avoided the destruction. But those hours of fear and helplessness changed her, Leavey said. She lost interest in college and questioned what she was doing with her life. Eventually, she found herself in a Marine recruiter’s office. Despite initial resistance from her parents, Leavey's determination prevailed, and she enlisted in August 2003.
Initially, Leavey trained as a military police officer. During police school she first learned about the K-9 program. From the moment two handlers visited her class and showed a video about the work MWDs did, she was hooked.
“I always loved animals,” she said. “Growing up, we had dogs and cats. It just clicked.”
Getting into the MWD program wasn’t easy, however. Only a handful of students were selected from the top of the class, but Leavey worked hard and earned her spot. She went to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas for three months of specialized training, which included wearing a padded bite suit and letting the dogs attack her.
“God, I lived in that suit,” Leavey said. “Because I was the junior handler, there wasn’t a dog available for me, so I was always in this suit.” That was when Leavey met Rex, an 84-pound German Shepherd trained in bomb detection and bite work.
“That’s how we met was through the suit, and it was not fun to be on that side of him,” she said.
Surviving Iraq
After a failed pairing with another dog and the retirement of Rex’s previous handler, Leavey and Rex became a team. The two deployed together twice to Iraq—first to Fallujah in 2005, then to Ramadi in 2006.
Leavey said she often faced skepticism as a woman from the male-dominated units she was assigned to support, but Rex quickly helped win them over.
“People saw what he could do and gave me a chance. The intense environment of Iraq, with its constant threat of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), required vigilance and a strong bond between handler and dog to get it right,” Leavey recalled.
During her second deployment in September 2006, Leavey and Rex were leading an Army patrol when they got caught in the blast of an IED.
“We were wrapping up for the day in this rural area with dirt roads when a car pulled up to our convoy, which isn’t unusual,” Leavey said. “I was called to check the vehicle, and I was on my way, walking up to the vehicle, and there was this explosion.”
It knocked her unconscious. When she came to, dazed and bloody, her first thought was Rex. She tugged at his leash, which was clipped to her flak jacket, praying he was still at the other end. He was—injured but alive. Leavey suffered a traumatic brain injury and Rex sustained shoulder damage that eventually ended his military career.
Leavey was awarded the Purple Heart, and when her tour ended in December 2007, she was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps as a corporal.
Loyalty to Rex
The bond between Leavey and Rex extended beyond their military service. Leavey sought to adopt Rex, a process that proved challenging because of Rex’s aggressive nature. “He was very handler focused, meaning he didn’t like when someone got near me,” she explained.
Initially, the military denied her request, citing Rex’s aggression. Then in 2012, Rex’s health began to seriously decline. He developed facial palsy and faced the possibility of being euthanized, Leavey acted.
With the help of local veterans, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and Randy Levine, president of the New York Yankees, Leavey pushed to bring Rex home. Public interest exploded. Media covered the story, and within weeks Leavey was allowed to adopt Rex.
“I was so happy and so was he,” Leavey said. “He was so happy to have toys at his disposal. He loved stuffed animal toys. He would just hold them in his mouth and chew on them.”
Rex lived with her for eight months before being euthanized in December 2012 at the age of 12. It was a short retirement, but one filled with love, toys, and good food.
In the years that followed, Leavey’s story gained even more attention. The 2017 film “Megan Leavey,” starring Kate Mara, dramatized her bond with Rex and the fight to bring him home. Leavey herself made a small cameo. Although the film took a few liberties, Leavey is proud of its message and the awareness it brought to the adoption struggles of MWDs.
Leavey became a veterinary technician after her discharge from the Marines. She worked her way up from assistant to head surgical technician and now works part time for a house call veterinary practice. Her husband, Angelo, is a K-9 handler with the local sheriff’s department. The couple have a 3-year-daughter and a house full of pets.
She credits Rex with helping her cope with unresolved mental health issues after the war.
“I was holding onto a lot of guilt and sadness about leaving Rex behind, but I got some closure when I adopted him, when I got him back, and ultimately, I feel like he deserved that for all the work that he did,” Leavey said.