WAR DOGS

                    Dogs have been used in war since ancient history.  The earliest mention was in a history of King Alyattes, King of Lydia, around 600 B.C. He used the war dogs against the invading Cimmerians.  In 525 B.C., at the battle of Pelusiam, Persian Emperor Cambyses put dogs, cats, and other animals in the front to get the Egyptians to think twice about shooting arrows.  A dog accompanied his master n the Greek phalanx at the Battle of Marathon and Emperor Xerxes had a pack of Indian hounds during his invasion of Greece in 480 B.C.  The Romans used a breed called Canis Molossus.  On the island of Sicily, dogs tracked down rebels in caves.  When Julius Caesar invaded Britain, his men had to deal with English mastiffs.  Attila the Hun, of course, had large war dogs.  In medieval Europe, knights sometimes had war dogs with spiked armor and later, armored plates.  They were used to break up enemy formations. The Spanish conquistadors used a deerhound / mastiff combination to attack the natives in the New World. Frederick the Great used dogs as messengers in the 7 Years’ War.  Napoleon’s army had war dogs.

                     In American wars before the 20^th Century, dogs were morale boosters as unit mascots.  On warships, they were effective rat catchers.  In WWI, the concept of the MWD (military working dog) came into being.  During the Great War, dogs were used as messengers to spare soldiers of that dangerous task.  Dogs were equipped with gas masks in case the trench they were in was targeted with poison gas.  MWDs carried supplies like ammunition and medicine.  Some were trained to locate the wounded in no man’s land.  Others were scout dogs who could identify machine gun nests and snipers. Most importantly, dogs could be used to give early warning of a surprise attack or poison gas.  Some of the famous war dogs of WWI included Stubby who became the most famous dog in America when he returned as Sergeant Stubby. 

                    In WWII, the role of dogs expanded.  In 1942, America recruited dogs by encouraging families to donate their dogs.  This was done by a private organization called Dogs for Defense.  The dogs were turned over to the Army’s K9 Corps.  Training began on March 13, 1942.  March 13 is now celebrated as K9 Veterans Day.  The Doberman Pinscher Club of America found dogs for the Marine Corps.  Dobies became associated with the Marines.  Not all of the dogs were suitable or trainable, but 10,000 dogs went to war.  Two famous American war dogs were Chips and Smoky.  Sadly, only 3,000 came home.  Other countries used dogs as well.  The Soviets tried to strap explosives to dogs to blow up German tanks in WWII. This program failed because most of the dogs refused to run under the tanks and if Soviet tanks were nearby, they would run to them. T5 Dogs parachuted with the British on D-Day.

                    The K-9 Corps continued providing dogs in Korea.  They went on night patrols.  They also hunted snipers and located enemy positions.  They were hated by the North Koreans and Chinese.  The Air Force used them to patrol air bases.  In Vietnam, they were effective in warning of enemy attacks as sentry dogs.  It is estimated that these warnings saved thousands of American lives.  They would patrol the perimeter of bases.  They were trained to find tunnels being used by the enemy.  Their handlers called them “fur missiles”, the enemy called them beeeeeep.  Supposedly, the communists promised a bounty to anyone who captured one.  The most famous war dog was Nemo.  On base security, Nemo alerted his handler to a Viet Cong attack and then waded into them as a snarling ball of fur.  Nemo lost an eye, but the enemy retreated as he guarded his wounded handler.  232 MWDs were killed in the war.  Shamefully, the dogs were left behind when the U.S. pulled out.  Even if their handler was willing to pay for getting the dog to America, the Army refused.  Only 200 of 4,000 war dogs made it back to America.  Vietnam was the only American war where MWDs were not brought home.  In the year 2000, Robby’s Law was passed allowing retired war dogs to be adopted by their handler, police departments, or concerned civilians.   

              War dogs now play a role in the war on terrorism.  They are often part of special forces units.  Dogs can be used to sniff out IEDs (improvised explosive devices).  Dogs have a sense of smell that is 50 times better than humans.  Some go into terrorist lairs first.  Equipped with video cameras, the operators can see what the dog is seeing.  The dogs are also trained to attack terrorists they encounter.  A dog named Cairo was used on the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden.  Cairo met President Obama   In 2019, a Belgian Malinois named Conan chased an ISIS leader named Abu Bakr into a tunnel.  When he set off a suicide vest, Cairo was wounded.

Dogs of War by Sheila Keenan and Nathan Fox  pp. 198-200

https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/news/war-dogs-military-history/

https://www.military.com/undertheradar/2017/03/brief-history-dogs-warfare