A Sotheby's employee holds a rare 52.82-carat white diamond ring at Sotheby's auction house on April 12, 2010 in London, England. Price: 7 million USD. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Team McLaren Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton (L) and Jenson Button unveil the new MP-27 Formula 1 car at the McLaren technology centre on February 1, 2012 in Woking, England. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

World War II enthusiasts take part in a re-enactament to mark the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings on Anzio beach, 52 km south of Rome, on January 25, 2014. (Photo by Andreas Solaro/AFP Photo)

It wasn’t exactly the Westminster Dog Show, but it was serious stuff. Photo: five-month-old Carly LeRolls Gottesman, at Pooch Prom at Downtown at the Gardens on Saturday, April 26, 2014. Carly was crowned the 2014 Pooch Prom queen. (Photo by Thomas Cordy/The Palm Beach Post)

Throughout the course of the long war in Afghanistan, Coalition troops have relied on thousands of military working dogs to help keep them safe, and make their jobs easier. The dogs are trained to detect explosives, to find illegal drugs, to search for missing comrades, or target enemy combatants. Not only are they active on the front lines, but behind the lines they serve as therapy dogs, service dogs, and loyal companions. They also share the same risks as the ground troops, suffering injuries and sometimes death on the battlefields. Gathered here are images of these dogs and their handlers in Afghanistan and back home, from over the past several years, part of the ongoing series here on Afghanistan.

In a photo taken on August 30, 2014 a man brushes his dog as he waits to take part in a competition at a dog show in Seoul. Some 2000 dogs took part in the three-day show organised by the Korea Kennel Federation which was celebrating its 58th anniversary. Dog ownership in South Korea is a growing industry widely reported to have passed 10 million in 2013, with private expenditure on pet supplies increasing some 14 percent per year since 2000, according to a report by the Nonghyup Economic Research Institute. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

A boy plays at a flooded street in front of a passing bus as tropical storm Fung-Wong battered the Philippine capital Manila September 19, 2014. Heavy rain in the Philippine capital, Manila, caused flooding in many areas on Friday, shutting schools, government offices and financial markets as a tropical storm made landfall to the north. Thousands of residents in low-lying areas were moved to higher ground, officials said, as flood waters rose quickly after the equivalent of half a month's usual rain fell in six hours. (Photo by Erik De Castro/Reuters)

In this handout photograph received from the Delhi Police at the scene of the incident, an Indian schoolboy is confronted by a white tiger inside its enclosure at the Delhi Zoo in New Delhi on September 23, 2014. A white tiger on September 23 attacked and killed a schoolboy who appeared to have jumped or fallen into its enclosure at the zoo in the Indian capital, witnesses said. (Photo by AFP Photo/Delhi Police)