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Dog Tags #1
Semper Fido
Man's best friend goes to war.
When Gus Dempsey joins the US Marine Corps, he knows without a doubt that he will make a great dog handler. He's always been good with dogs. In fact, he's often better with dogs than he is with people.
But Loki is not the dog that Gus was expecting. Fun-loving and playful, Loki acts more like a pet than the well-trained, bomb-sniffing Marine that he's supposed to be.
When Gus and Loki deploy to Afghanistan, though, they have no choice but to learn to work together. Because in war, getting along is a matter of life and death.
When Gus Dempsey joins the US Marine Corps, he knows without a doubt that he will make a great dog handler. He's always been good with dogs. In fact, he's often better with dogs than he is with people.
But Loki is not the dog that Gus was expecting. Fun-loving and playful, Loki acts more like a pet than the well-trained, bomb-sniffing Marine that he's supposed to be.
When Gus and Loki deploy to Afghanistan, though, they have no choice but to learn to work together. Because in war, getting along is a matter of life and death.
224 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2012
87 people are currently reading
495 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
October 5, 2023
A book guaranteed to keep you turning the pages. Also one to bring a lump to your throat and give you misty eyes. Above all, it’s a book about just how far a dog’s loyalty will take him.
Semper Fi, Loki. Good boy!
Semper Fi, Loki. Good boy!
November 6, 2018
Personal Response:
Overall, I enjoyed this book because it is very relatable. In the book he is paired with a dog that he trains, and when I was younger I always got to play with my uncle's coon hounds. The author did a good job at keeping the reader interested throughout the whole book. My favorite part was when Loki saves Gus's life. Overall, I think this is a well written book.
Plot Summary: Gus is a 18 year old boy who sets off to join the Marines. He is a normal 18 year old kid who has two dogs at home and loves his two dogs. He is in training and his instructor asks if anyone would want to be a part of "semper fi" the dog team. Gus was chosen, and he is sent to another part of the base to train with the other semper fi. on the second day he gets to meet his dog Loki. At first Loki hates him because Gus is a new face to him, but after a while, no one can separate the duo. These two make the best dog team he Marines have ever seen. In the second fight, his best friend chang steps on a land mine, and Gus and Loki are sent to the hospital. Gus has the decision to go back and he does. Some battles afterward, Loki chases after two men for miles, and Gus being his handler must follow. they get to the cave where one of the terrorists is hiding and then gus sees a detonator in his hand so he jumps to save loki but is too late. Gus wakes up in a cloudy haze, and finds loki amidst the rubble, he starts to carry him out but faints. Gus later wakes up in a hospital with his mom and his brother. She tells him that she had to make a hard decision for him, and he is so worried that she put loki down. Then with a smile on her face she said no, we adopted him, and loki comes running in with a huge cast on his leg.
Character:
Gus is a 18 year old boy who sets off to join the Marines. Gus seems very tough, because he made it so far with not a lot of problems. He also seems very smart, because he avoids trouble and didn't get killed.
Loki is Gus's dog. He is higher ranked than Gus. He has a great nose and is trained to sniff out explosives in a hostile area. Loki is a very loyal dog and would do anything for his owner.
Recommendation:
I would recommend this book to ages 12-17 of both genders. If you enjoy war or dog books then you would enjoy Dog Tags. I give this book four out of five stars, because it kept my interest throughout the book but I thought that the author could have talked about Loki when he was adopted by Gus.
Overall, I enjoyed this book because it is very relatable. In the book he is paired with a dog that he trains, and when I was younger I always got to play with my uncle's coon hounds. The author did a good job at keeping the reader interested throughout the whole book. My favorite part was when Loki saves Gus's life. Overall, I think this is a well written book.
Plot Summary: Gus is a 18 year old boy who sets off to join the Marines. He is a normal 18 year old kid who has two dogs at home and loves his two dogs. He is in training and his instructor asks if anyone would want to be a part of "semper fi" the dog team. Gus was chosen, and he is sent to another part of the base to train with the other semper fi. on the second day he gets to meet his dog Loki. At first Loki hates him because Gus is a new face to him, but after a while, no one can separate the duo. These two make the best dog team he Marines have ever seen. In the second fight, his best friend chang steps on a land mine, and Gus and Loki are sent to the hospital. Gus has the decision to go back and he does. Some battles afterward, Loki chases after two men for miles, and Gus being his handler must follow. they get to the cave where one of the terrorists is hiding and then gus sees a detonator in his hand so he jumps to save loki but is too late. Gus wakes up in a cloudy haze, and finds loki amidst the rubble, he starts to carry him out but faints. Gus later wakes up in a hospital with his mom and his brother. She tells him that she had to make a hard decision for him, and he is so worried that she put loki down. Then with a smile on her face she said no, we adopted him, and loki comes running in with a huge cast on his leg.
Character:
Gus is a 18 year old boy who sets off to join the Marines. Gus seems very tough, because he made it so far with not a lot of problems. He also seems very smart, because he avoids trouble and didn't get killed.
Loki is Gus's dog. He is higher ranked than Gus. He has a great nose and is trained to sniff out explosives in a hostile area. Loki is a very loyal dog and would do anything for his owner.
Recommendation:
I would recommend this book to ages 12-17 of both genders. If you enjoy war or dog books then you would enjoy Dog Tags. I give this book four out of five stars, because it kept my interest throughout the book but I thought that the author could have talked about Loki when he was adopted by Gus.
September 28, 2015
A middle grade book that tells the story of a marine in Afghanistan and his military working dog. I learned a lot about how the military uses dogs and got a look at the what life might be like at an outpost in a hostile land. In addition to learning a lot, the author tells a good story. He doesn't give the reader the answer to tough problems and is able to remain apolitical and still tell a good story.
March 31, 2018
2.5 stars
I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this book to read it. It wasn't bad as in graphic or full of language, and it was fairly interesting. However, some of it was rather crude. There was an entire chapter devoted to "bathroom things" which I was not interested in. While there was only one bad word, there was also mention of the main character's dad leaving his family and never returning after he got out of the marines himself. My other objection was the talk of wizards, elves, fantasy, and a book series that I don't and won't read. Because of this I knew it was not a book I would hand to my nephews to read.
I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this book to read it. It wasn't bad as in graphic or full of language, and it was fairly interesting. However, some of it was rather crude. There was an entire chapter devoted to "bathroom things" which I was not interested in. While there was only one bad word, there was also mention of the main character's dad leaving his family and never returning after he got out of the marines himself. My other objection was the talk of wizards, elves, fantasy, and a book series that I don't and won't read. Because of this I knew it was not a book I would hand to my nephews to read.
July 30, 2018
4.5
First read of BookTube-A-Thon completed!!! I got this book from an event for the author and was expecting a 3 star book, but I actually enjoyed this so much!! I think he portrayed the Labrador amazingly (which yes a lot of authors make them these super calm dogs who just sit there until they're told to do something, but I have one and that's not at all what they're like so I appreciate correct portrayals of them). I also felt like I came out of this learning something which is always a plus.
I would recommend this to people of all ages who love dogs.
First read of BookTube-A-Thon completed!!! I got this book from an event for the author and was expecting a 3 star book, but I actually enjoyed this so much!! I think he portrayed the Labrador amazingly (which yes a lot of authors make them these super calm dogs who just sit there until they're told to do something, but I have one and that's not at all what they're like so I appreciate correct portrayals of them). I also felt like I came out of this learning something which is always a plus.
I would recommend this to people of all ages who love dogs.
September 2, 2013
Semper Fido is about Gus Dempsey, a corporal, and his new mine detector dog, Loki, a sergeant. However, Loki is not the serious, well-trained dog he's suppose to be, but instead acts like a loving pet. This story takes place during the War in Afghanistan, around 2007. A conflict in the story is when Dempsey meets Loki for the first time, Loki is very stubborn and disobeys all orders from Dempsey. However, this was solved by Dempsey doing the "alpha roll" to Loki to show who was in charge, along with dog treats and toys. If you enjoy war stories with dogs, along with some humor, then you will enjoy reading Semper Fido. As Dempsey goes on more missions with Loki, they both begin to bond.
C. Alexander London does a great job explaining the small details such as the acronyms Dempsey comes across.
C. Alexander London does a great job explaining the small details such as the acronyms Dempsey comes across.
October 19, 2013
I loved this book. It related to me in so many ways. Plus it's about dogs mixed with some suspense and action. This book was about a guy named Gus who wanted to be a dog handler in the marine corps. So as the story went on he met his partner Loki. Loki was a black playful lab that has been in the marine corps for years. So this book made me relate because I have a dog that acts like Loki, but she is not a bomb sniffing dog. Also this book is about the recent war in Afghanistan. I loved this book and I hope you will read it too and enjoy as much as I do. If you liked this book then there are three more books in the series.
January 5, 2018
Semper Fi!
Story of Marine working dog and his handler.
Dog had lost a handler and how this young marine earned the dogs trust and then the trust of the unit that the dog belonged to in Afghanistan.
Importance of having dogs trained w/units in the areas of deployment.
Reminded of "Max", "Sergeant Rex" and"Cracker".
Story of Marine working dog and his handler.
Dog had lost a handler and how this young marine earned the dogs trust and then the trust of the unit that the dog belonged to in Afghanistan.
Importance of having dogs trained w/units in the areas of deployment.
Reminded of "Max", "Sergeant Rex" and"Cracker".
December 30, 2013
This is the story of US Marine Gus Dempsey and his bomb sniffing dog, Loki. They are deployed to Afghanistan to help troops there. Gus and Loki have a hard time working together and trusting each other. They learn to work together and love each other. I really liked this book. It is a great story.
January 2, 2016
This book is awesome and sad. But te awesome out ways the sad. And that's good.
May 30, 2018
I will admit that this book grew on me as I read it, and got much more engaging in the second half. It's about a young man entering the Marines as a dog trainer, and he's paired with a bomb sniffing dog named Loki. They are sent to Afghanistan and the book explores their relationship, the effects of war, and what it's like to be over there.
While I found the first half about his training to be somewhat interesting, it was also a little bit dry and didn't hold my attention for long. In addition, this is one of those children's books that is very much written for children (as opposed to a children's book written for any audience but able to be understood and appreciated by children as well as adults). There was a ton of explanation of what all of the military jargon meant, explained in silly terms for kids to understand (lots of parallels to fighting dragons and elves and very Lord of the Rings esque comparisons). I would finish a chapter and not have any strong desire to pick up the book again.
The second half dug a little deeper and tugged at your heartstrings more. Not surprisingly, the realities of war are horrifying. It asked some big questions in a way that was still accessible to kids. I became more invested in the characters and what happened to them. And it was able to ask some of those big questions about war without beating you over the head with it.
I perhaps struggled a little because I wasn't big on Gus's character. He is portrayed as very serious, never joking or even laughing, and all about his duty to the Marines. Admirable, maybe, but hard to relate to. He got a little better later in the book but I think that's what caused my lack of interest early on.
All in all I think this is a pretty powerful book for any kids looking to read about war, dogs, or something like that. We're doing a book discussion on it this summer so I'm hoping it will generate some good discussion.
While I found the first half about his training to be somewhat interesting, it was also a little bit dry and didn't hold my attention for long. In addition, this is one of those children's books that is very much written for children (as opposed to a children's book written for any audience but able to be understood and appreciated by children as well as adults). There was a ton of explanation of what all of the military jargon meant, explained in silly terms for kids to understand (lots of parallels to fighting dragons and elves and very Lord of the Rings esque comparisons). I would finish a chapter and not have any strong desire to pick up the book again.
The second half dug a little deeper and tugged at your heartstrings more. Not surprisingly, the realities of war are horrifying. It asked some big questions in a way that was still accessible to kids. I became more invested in the characters and what happened to them. And it was able to ask some of those big questions about war without beating you over the head with it.
I perhaps struggled a little because I wasn't big on Gus's character. He is portrayed as very serious, never joking or even laughing, and all about his duty to the Marines. Admirable, maybe, but hard to relate to. He got a little better later in the book but I think that's what caused my lack of interest early on.
All in all I think this is a pretty powerful book for any kids looking to read about war, dogs, or something like that. We're doing a book discussion on it this summer so I'm hoping it will generate some good discussion.
October 17, 2018
Reading through this entire book just amazed me. I loved how it wasn't graphic to intrigue younger readers to actually read the book, yet it gives the details for the older readers to get a grasp of what's going on and piecing it together.
I also enjoyed that there's added facts at the end of what and when dogs were placed in the military. It just wasn't us humans fighting all the time and I'm glad that someone was able to get that across. Not many people know that dogs have been used way back.
Added in, I also liked that the author did the research and went and talked to people who knew what was right and what wasn't and so on. The fact that the author just didn't go online to look everything up is beneficial because not everything is factual and completely right as we all know.
Not included, but I definitely want to continue reading through with the series. War isn't what interests me the most, but it's the companionship, courageousness, and dedication to something that encourages me to pick up another book and just read.
I also enjoyed that there's added facts at the end of what and when dogs were placed in the military. It just wasn't us humans fighting all the time and I'm glad that someone was able to get that across. Not many people know that dogs have been used way back.
Added in, I also liked that the author did the research and went and talked to people who knew what was right and what wasn't and so on. The fact that the author just didn't go online to look everything up is beneficial because not everything is factual and completely right as we all know.
Not included, but I definitely want to continue reading through with the series. War isn't what interests me the most, but it's the companionship, courageousness, and dedication to something that encourages me to pick up another book and just read.
June 12, 2023
My oldest asked me to read this one.
Written for kids 12+ there is some mild descriptions of blood, killing, war related violence, a few swear words, and mild trauma. Over all I thought it would hold the interest of a reader, especially those who are dog lovers.
This book tells the story of a young marine and his veteren IDD dog Loki as they are stationed in a remote Afghanistan location. It's underlying theme is that bravery means staying for the ones you love. It's not exactly action packed, but there is enough in here to keep you engaged. I loved how this book gave alot of insight into a military working dogs duties, didn't over glorify war, but also respectfully handled a military viewpoint.
Written for kids 12+ there is some mild descriptions of blood, killing, war related violence, a few swear words, and mild trauma. Over all I thought it would hold the interest of a reader, especially those who are dog lovers.
This book tells the story of a young marine and his veteren IDD dog Loki as they are stationed in a remote Afghanistan location. It's underlying theme is that bravery means staying for the ones you love. It's not exactly action packed, but there is enough in here to keep you engaged. I loved how this book gave alot of insight into a military working dogs duties, didn't over glorify war, but also respectfully handled a military viewpoint.
July 8, 2021
This book is very eventful and I like it a lot. It has a lot of climaxes and some slow parts but overall would totally recommend. This book helped me understand how its like leaving your family to go to war across the world. This book helped me understand what all an IED dog could do and all its responsibilities. This book is a great book you need to read it if you want to get delighted from the amazing story it has. I recommend this book to you.
November 6, 2019
It was a really good book, I think my Favourite part was when he was on the walk after the night of the fire fight. It was really descriptive and it made me wonder what would happen. Would he have no lags when he woke up was his dog OK was his friend still alive and someone else died i had no clue so that was my favourite part.
December 5, 2017
I love the Dog Tags series because it has all of my favorite interests put into a book! It has Military and K-9 dogs that is why i love the series there is 4 books and they are all about how the handlers and the dogs go through their adventures.
May 9, 2018
I had to read this for school and figured it was going to be another boring school book, but wait my friends! Do not judge a book by its cover! This is a fast paced, good written book that brings you right into the war along with Loki and Gus. But beware readers! This book is a tear jerker!
November 5, 2021
I read this book to my 9 year old son. He saw the dog and marine on the front and wanted me to read it to him. The book is for a much older child. There were a few things I skipped over as I read it.
July 17, 2017
I liked it
September 25, 2017
I think it wasnt a bad book i loved it, a great relationship with a training dog in any situation is a good thing, aspeshaly for marines.
January 27, 2019
If you are okay with not much action and some drama - this book is for you. But if you like a ton of action, no drama, and someone stepping on a bomb ... then you will love this book!!!
June 8, 2021
Great book to read, one of the first books I was actually intrigued in
August 4, 2021
This is an exciting book for adults who know nothing about war dogs as well as a good read aloud for middle graders, especially boys, who love dogs and have parents who are in the military.
April 12, 2022
Very well written. Very accurate discription of the working relationship between dog and handler.
January 19, 2023
I’m not a historical person or a war person so I really didn’t like
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May 4, 2023I want to read this book so bad but I can't read the book on this app which I am sad about
August 2, 2024
Would give more stars if I could!
February 20, 2025
JUST MY OPINION: The dog part was kinda annoying, but the war stuff was interesting.
November 17, 2025
Kiddo loved it!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews