Memorial to Smiley, the Greatest Dog in Iraq Traditional Geocache
Crow T Robot: It appears that this cache is missing. Pleaes contact me if you can confirm that it is still there. Thanks.
Memorial to Smiley, the Greatest Dog in Iraq
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Size: 
(small)
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If you're in Iraqi Kurdistan, please pay your respects to Smiley, the Greatest Dog in Iraq.
This cache is a memorial to our buddy Smiley, a truly unique dog and a loyal friend. Everyone who ever met Smiley remembered him. The first thing you immediately noticed about Smiley was nothing but a solid wall of intimidating teeth. However, if you looked beyond the teeth, you would see his stubby tail madly wagging back and forth, you'd notice that he had no ears, and learn quickly that Smiley loved everyone...regardless of whether you were bringing him steak bones or not.
In addition to being a wild dog in charge of his pack, Smiley had been through a lot. On Feb 2, 2004, the day of a double-suicide attack that killed 117 people in Erbil, an American PSD saw Smiley in the parking lot and shot him. One bullet hit Smiley in 3 locations: the entry wound was behind his shoulder, it came out the front of his shoulder, and went through his jaw. (Because the bullet entered Smiley from behind his shoulder, it was proof that Smiley was shot as he was walking away. It was determined to be "negligent discharge of a weapon" and the PSD was rightly fired -- YEAH!)
Word spread quickly about Smiley's injuries and emails and gifts came pouring in from Smiley's friends and admirers around Iraq, as well as from friends in the UK and the US. Amazingly, Smiley survived, and within 5 days, was up on his feet and yearning to go back to his pack. Within 2 weeks, he was chewing on bones and running without a limp, as if he had never been shot.
Unfortunately, a few months later, Smiley broke his leg while defending his pack from interloping dogs. We sent him to a dog hospital about 3 hours away. He was again on the mend when I got a call one morning that he had died suddenly in the middle of the night, possibly of a scorpion or snake bite, or possibly because he had been over-vaccinated. A friend and I drove out to pick up his body and bury him where he would always have a view over the hills of northern Iraq.
When you visit this site, enjoy the pictures of our friend, admire the view, and tell Smiley we remember him, love him, and miss him greatly.
Please send me an email when you visit this site and let me know your impressions of our buddy and the beautiful location. Also, I'd be interested to know what you're doing in Iraq.
If you're using US mil maps, the coordinates are:
38S MF 24675 20221 (accurate to 4 m)
Additional Hints
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