Retiring Navy dog

A couple dozen sailors gathered Friday at Naval Air Station Oceana to say goodbye to a departing colleague.

Wearing masks and standing 6 feet apart, they didn’t mind that their comrade Bob didn’t return their salutes. Or that he was on all fours.

Bob is a black Lab after all. And a very good boy.

Bob retired from the Navy last week after about six years of service as a military working dog. He was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal at Friday’s ceremony.

It’s unclear where Bob was born or how exactly he entered the service, but he originally worked as a Marine, Hausmann said.

Typically the military finds dogs by checking around kennels and looking for canines with the right traits, such as a penchant for hunting and going after balls, he said. Friendliness is also important because the dog will often be around new people.

Bob, who’s now 9 and “about 60 pounds of absolute cuddleness,” according to Hausmann, was trained at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Around 2011 or 2012 he deployed to Afghanistan and worked as a bomb dog, sniffing out explosives.