Everything runs down leash

“The reason that got me here, they made a movie about me [and it’s] still so surreal to me, but I think it's amazing that after so much time has passed, people are still interested in hearing my story,” Megan Leavey said to the crowd during her keynote address at 2025 American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Convention in Washington, DC.

Leavey is a former Marine Corps corporal and military police canine handler who fought once she left the Marine Corps to adopt Rex, the dog she was paired with during her deployment in Iraq. Leavey’s story and her fight for Rex gained popularity in the media and eventually went on to become a major motion picture in 2017 titled Megan Leavey.

Throughout her keynote address, Leavey shared with attendees her journey to joining the Marine Corps and becoming a K9 handler, her time in Iraq, and what her fight for Rex looked like.

Enlisting

Leavey had no original plans to pursue a military career. In fact, she did not really have a post-high school plan for herself in any sense, besides going to college.She told attendees that besides both her grandfather’s serving in World War II and her uncle serving in the Vietnam War, she had no other real ties to the armed forces. The turning point for her was when she was away at college in 2001 and a month into her first semester, the tragic events of 9/11 unfolded in a city that was near and dear to her, and then she lost a close family friend who was only 20 years old. She told the crowd that after she had been home for a while, her parents had her go back to school for the second semester despite not wanting to go back, and while there, her lack of trying made it so she was not welcomed back for the next year.

Leavey went on to try community college and got a job. Every day on her way to work, she would walk past a Marine Corps recruitment center, and one day, she decided to go in. After asking them one question, did she have to cut her hair to join, she enlisted.

Megan Leavey sharing her stories with attendees, including her cameo in the film Megan Leavey shown here.

“I heard the Marines were considered the toughest branch in service. I've been known to do things to the extreme. So I thought, if I'm going to do this, I'm going on. I signed my contract to join the Marines, and at the time, I happened to be studying criminal justice, so my recruiter thought it would be fitting if I joined as a military police officer, so that would be my job once I finished boot camp, never did I dream that K9 would be an opportunity for me down the road,” Leavey explained.

After completing boot camp, Leavey entered military police school in Missouri, and K9 handlers came to speak to their class about becoming a handler. After weeding out those who were not qualified, Leavey was one of the few left who had the potential to be selected, and at the end of it, she was.

“Then I was off to Lackland Air Force Base to go to K9 School, where I was very proud. I finished what they call the ‘top dog’ in your class, and then I was off to be stationed at Camp Pendleton in California. I was 20 years old, and that would be my first time traveling to the West Coast. So when I got there, there was no dog available for me yet, and that is where I initially met Rex. He was a very, very good working dog, very scary,” Leavey explained.

Rex and Leavey were together for her first deployment, and he became a source of comfort for Leavey as she was going through a tough time in her life, with her parents splitting up, and her comfort came from throwing herself into work with Rex. She also said that because there were not many females in Iraq, her fellow soldiers were a little skeptical of her, but they always wanted to work with Rex. This first deployment was a big learning experience for her, but it was a good one, so she felt confident and more prepared when she returned for her second deployment in 2005.

The explosion

Days before leaving for her second deployment, Leavey received a call that her Sergeant had been killed by a suicide bomber, with 2 other handlers hurt badly. The death of her Sergeant marked the first dog handler to be killed in the line of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In Iraq, she explained, there was a bounty on dog handlers and their dogs because they played a really important role in identifying IEDs on the ground.

On September 4, 2006, Leavey and Rex were with a team when they noticed a car heading toward their convoy, something that was not unusual to them. They had them stop, and Leavey and Rex began to approach the vehicle to check it out, and the blast went off.

“I remember coming to and not being able to see anything but dust and smoke all around me. My body hurts. My ears were ringing. Could feel my arms and my legs, and then I remember pulling on my leash, hoping and praying that Rex was still on the other end of it,” Leavey expressed.

“I always tried to have his leash attached to my flap jacket, just in case situations like this happened. I was lying down on the ground, and I dragged him towards me, and thank God, he was still on the other end of that leash. I was trying to look him over when 2 soldiers finally ran up to us, and they said, ‘My God, we couldn't find you. We were worried we lost you.’ They helped us back up, and we got back in our Humvee,” she continued.

Despite being injured, Leavey and Rex continued to work since they were the only handlers out there. After receiving some fire, they returned to base. Leavey was medically evacuated out of base but had to leave Rex behind to be cared for by a veterinarian.

After this, and with Leavey having one year left on her contract, she did not want to be deployed anymore, despite her love for being a dog handler.In that year, she and Rex did physical therapy together, and she trained the next class of K9 handlers. Rex was also classified as non-deployable and maintained his certifications to be able to remain on the base.

Fighting for Rex

Leavey expressed to the handlers and kept in touch with them to make sure that they all knew she wanted to adopt him when it was time for him to retire. Leavey waited ‘4 long years’ and then she got a call from a former chief trainer letting her know Rex was having neurological issues and he was not going to be able to work anymore, so if she wanted Rex, she better make some moves. Having all of her paperwork in order, there was only one thing stopping her: a veterinarian had written in Rex’s medical records that he was not a candidate for adoption because of his aggressive behaviors, and they did not sign off on his paperwork.

Leavey and Rex

Going to someone she trusted at her local Veterans Affairs, and he told her to gather all her paperwork and he would pass it off to someone who could get it on a senator's desk. Then her story was everywhere.

“It was a wild experience being thrown into the public eye. What a whirlwind. Suddenly, my phone was ringing off the hook. My pictures were being printed in the newspaper. I was being interviewed left and right. I went on Good Day New York to advocate for our adoption, and all I could think was, please, please, let this work.I'll never forget when I got the call that his adoption was fine. I couldn't believe I was going to be reunited with my boy,” Leavey said.

Along with getting Rex back, Leavey told the crowd the president of the New York Yankees personally called her and told her he wanted to pay for all the travel expenses, but all of his future veterinary bills as well.She flew out to California to attend his retirement ceremony, which Leavey said in true Rex fashion, he barked through the entire thing, and then she was able to take him home.

In conclusion

Leavey said 8 months after welcoming Rex home, she had to make the difficult decision to euthanize him because his quality of life was deteriorating. However, he spent those 8 months playing with her other dogs, seeing snow for the first time, and having his ownwelcome home ceremony at Yankee Stadium.

Leavey, who would go on to become a veterinary technician after trying to find a career that complemented her K9 handling background and love for animals, decided to partake in the movie about her and Rex’s story because to her, it could help someone else fighting to adopt a dog like Rex.

“I just want to remind you all here in a world where we are so used to instant gratification, I waited four years to adopt threats. I waited four years for a movie about us to be made. And in your profession, when things are getting hard and you start to question if all your hard work is going to be worth it, one day I'm here to tell you, do not give up on something that you love,” Leavey concluded.