**** Updated: Clemency for Ratchet?

Sgt. Gwen Beberg, 28, of Minneapolis was separated from the dog, named "Ratchet," following a recent transfer. She's scheduled to return to the U.S. next month and is pleading with the powers-that-be to let her dog come home, too. "I just want my puppy home," she said.

Defense Department rules prohibit soldiers in the U.S. Central command, which includes Iraq, from adopting pets, but exceptions have been made. Operation Baghdad Pups says it has gotten 50 dogs and six cats transferred to the U.S. in the last eight months.

"I'm coping reasonably well because I refuse to believe that Ratchet has been hurt," Beberg wrote in an e-mail to her mother, Patricia Beberg. "If I find out that he was killed, though -- well, we just won't entertain that possibility."

Beberg and another soldier rescued the puppy from a burning pile of trash back in May. Operation Baghdad Pups' program coordinator, Terri Crisp, is scheduled to arrive in Baghdad on Wednesday. She said the adopted dogs left behind face death on Iraqi streets.

Last week, Beberg's congressman, Rep. Keith Ellison, wrote to the Army urging it to review the

case. And more than 10,000 people have signed an online petition urging the Army to let Ratchet come home with Beberg to Minnesota.

****UPDATE: Just saw this update from AP  indicating that the Army has confirmed that Ratchet is still alive, so Beberg's fight to bring the dog home with her will continue.

Sgt. Brooke Murphy, a U.S. military spokeswoman, explained that the rule prohibiting soldiers from adopting pets and transporting them home has to do with concerns about health issues.

In June, a dog brought back to the U.S. by Operation Baghdad Pups tested positive for rabies after it was euthanized for other health concerns.

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