JD Aument is a firefighter in his local area and he also serves in the Army reserves. He has been serving overseas recently for the past nine months. In order to go overseas, however, he had to leave Brindle, his dog behind and the dog misses him terribly.

“He’s so sad without him here,” Rachel Marie Aument, JD’s wife, said. “He loves me, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not his person.”

A few years before JD went overseas on active duty, he went to an animal shelter looking for a friend. That is where he found Brindle and the two of them have been great for each other.

Brindle and his human dad were inseparable but, unfortunately, JD had to go overseas when he was deployed last year.

It was not only Brindle that was affected by JD leaving, but it was also Xander, the other family dog. Xander tends to be closer to mom so he doesn’t have quite as difficult a time as Brindle, who is heartbroken.

“He has days where he just sits at the front window, crying,” Aument said.

The pup has been waiting for his dad to come home or for any sign that he is still around. He got one this week. JD prepared a special gift for his dog and sent it home by mail. It was an unwashed shirt that still had his scent.

This is the moment that Brindle received the gift and could feel the presence of his friend again:

“He immediately knew that it was JD’s shirt. There was no doubt about it,” Aument said. “I was crying so hard while recording his reaction.”

Even though he wasn’t there physically, it was almost as if he was in the room.

“He carried [the shirt] up to bed with him after the video and slept with it the rest of the day,” Aument said.

The dog would have carried the shirt around everywhere but Aument found a solution that worked much better. She dressed him in the shirt!

“I think he felt a little abandoned when JD left and the shirt helped reassure him that Dad still loves him and is coming back,” Aument said.

Brindle is able to enjoy the shirt but he doesn’t have to wait much longer before JD will be home. He will be back in the States in about a month.

Thanks to the caring of JD, Brindle has something to hold onto until he is able to be with his friend once again.

“I miss JD so much and it was the first time any of us had smelled him in almost 10 months,” Aument said. “I had to take a minute with the shirt for myself before I could share with Brindle.”