Smoky, The World's First Therapy Dog

"Smoky," a Yorkshire Terrier was found in 1944 in New Guinea, abandoned in a foxhole, and was adopted by GI Bill Wynne. The smallest heroine of World War II stood only seven inches tall and weighed four pounds.  She is famous for crawling through a tiny culvert on a captured Japanese island, hauling a communication cable, sparing GIs from being exposed to enemy sniper fire.


After the war Smoky became the world's first therapy dog, visiting wounded GIs in hospitals. A monument to her, sculpted by Susan Bahary, was unveiled in Cleveland, where the petite heroine died in 1957.

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