Published Tuesday, November 10, 2009 7:05 AM

Dog from Afghanistan arrives in Texas

Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas -- An overseas tour of duty has ended for a once-malnourished dog lovingly nurtured by Texas troops in Afghanistan.

The now-65-pound mixed breed dog named "Delilah" on Tuesday spent her first full day in Austin.

The white puppy in June began tagging along with National Guard troops from Camp Mabry while members were on patrol.

Spc. Matt Stewart of Austin says from the start the dog was "pretty cute walking beside us" and he wanted to keep Delilah.

His sister-in-law, Laura Fleming of Austin, set up a Web site and helped raise money to fly the dog to the U.S. About $3,500 was donated by October.

The Austin American-Statesman reports Delilah arrived in Austin on Monday afternoon. Delilah will live with Fleming until Stewart completes his tour of duty in January and returns home.

---

Notice about comments: Theeagle.com is pleased to offer readers the ability to comment on stories. We expect our readers to engage in lively, yet civil discourse. Theeagle.com cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in the comments area. Responsibility for the statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not theeagle.com. If you find a comment that is objectionable, please click "report abuse" and we will review it for possible removal. Please be reminded, however, that in accordance with our Terms of Use and federal law, we are under no obligation to remove any third party comments posted on our website. Full terms and conditions can be read here.The Eagle is proud to offer our users enhanced commenting features. You can now build user-to-user connections, follow friend's recent posts, add an avatar that fits your personality, and more. If you have posted here before you’ll need to sign up again and if you’ve never posted start now by signing up!