When Spencer Sekyer stumbled upon a stray dog and her new brood in war-torn Afghanistan 18 months ago, he couldn't walk away.
The puppies were huddled in the gutter and their mother appeared to have been abused. But they quickly warmed up to Sekyer, an Alberta junior high school teacher who spends his summers teaching in conflict zones around the world.
Sekyer was hooked. He began feeding the canine family and playing with the pups, but soon realized he wanted to do more.
One-and-a-half years later, seven of the now-grown pups arrived in Calgary, thanks to Sekyer's efforts to arrange their new lives in Canada.
After a long flight from Kabul via Frankfurt, Germany, Sekyer and the dogs were reunited Friday at the Calgary International Airport.
"It's the right thing to do," Sekyer told CTV Calgary.
"I think you'd have to have a heart of stone just to walk by," he said of his first encounter with the puppies.
Rescuing the dogs and bringing them to Canada wasn't an easy task. Before he left Afghanistan, Sekyer first had to find a shelter for them. On his return home, he had to raise the money to fly them halfway around the world.
Sekyer and his wife even climbed Mount Kilimanjaro as part of their fundraising efforts.
Air Canada also helped by waiving their $28,000 fee to fly the animals to Canada.
Once the dogs cleared customs in Calgary on Friday, they were let out of their cages for an emotional reunion with Sekyer.
The dogs wagged their tails and some of them whimpered as Sekyer petted them for the first time since that summer in 2010.
Each dog will be checked out by a veterinarian, spayed and microchipped before joining a new family in Canada.
"It's been a crazy ride but it's all worth it," Sekyer said.
