WASHINGTON (AP) -- Growing up, Peter Neesley was an animal-lover who always took in strays around his Michigan home. So when his family heard that the Army sergeant was taking care of two dogs outside his Baghdad military base, no one was surprised.

In e-mails and phone calls from Iraq, Neesley talked about how he came across Mama, a black Labrador mix, and Boris, her white-and-brown spotted puppy, while on patrol in their Baghdad neighborhood.

One of Mama's puppies was later killed by a car, so Neesley and his friends built a doghouse to shelter the animals. Photographs show Neesley feeding the dogs and kneeling next to the red-and-white doghouse and Boris walking along the cracked sidewalks of Baghdad.

"He was determined. He had already been sending us e-mails about how when he came home in July, he was going to find a way to bring them with him," said his sister, Carey Neesley.

"He didn't want another young man who had a wife and kids at home to die," she said. "He's always had such a strong sense of family and protecting those who can't protect themselves. Caring for a mother and her stray puppy, why would you ever think to do anything else?"

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/02/08/soldier.dog.ap/index.html