# What do military dogs do?



## RWBlue01 (Jan 27, 2009)

What do military dogs do?
Or should I say, what can military dogs do?


I don't want to know the commands. I wouldn't want that posted on a public forum.
I do want to know if all military dogs are trained to do the same things.

Do they sniff drugs, bombs, track, Kill?
What other things that I am not thinking about?


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## nysirk (Apr 15, 2008)

Great question im curious too.........


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## JerzeyGSD (Jun 26, 2008)

> Originally Posted By: RWBlue01
> 
> Do they sniff drugs, bombs, track, Kill?


I hope they don't kill!


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

Oh, this is something I can answer - at least for the Army. I do believe the other branches of service use the same types of dogs, though.

AFAIK, the Army has patrol dogs, patrol/narcotics dogs and patrol/explosives dogs, as well as SSDs (Specialized Search Dogs) that are trained for explosives only. 

The Army manual that covers military working dogs is AR 190-12. If you Google it, you can download it on the Internet. It does not tell you how the dogs are trained, only how they are used, information about kennel facilities, and that sort of thing. 

Patrol Dogs are used to protect installation facilities, prevent crime, and provide law enforcement services. They are used as a deterrent on patrols, as a way of finding a fleeing person (especially at night), and to go after and hold someone running from military police.

Explosives Detector Dogs are trained in detection, tracking, and building search. They are also sometimes used to help other federal agencies when there is a need for explosives dogs in a situation.

Narcotics Detector Dogs are trained in detection, tracking, and building search. Difference being they are trained to detect narcotics, not explosives. 



Now, throughout history, military working dogs have been used for a lot of other purposes, such as being messenger dogs (carrying a message between two handlers), casualty dogs (finding wounded soldiers on the battlefield), off-leash and on-leash tracker dogs, and mine and tunnel dogs (trained to locate mines/tunnels in Vietnam).

There are also currently two black Labradors in the US Army who are trained as Therapy Dogs and who are deployed to Iraq with a medical (combat stress control) unit.


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## nysirk (Apr 15, 2008)

Oh I Love the idea of therapy dogs, are they used for the wounded/ill soldiers? A while back I saw a post of a GSD jumping out of an airplane for the military, whats up with that?


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> Quote:Oh I Love the idea of therapy dogs, are they used for the wounded/ill soldiers?


There are two kinds of therapy dogs that work with the military.

There are volunteer therapy dogs, which belong to an organization like PAL (People Animals Love) or Therapy Dogs International, and which go and visit wounded soldiers at hospitals and medical facilities. This is the type of work Abby and I do, except we go to the Warrior Transition Unit on base. (The WTU is where soldiers go who are recovering from illness or injury and pending either going back active duty or getting out of the military.)

The two dogs that are currently in Iraq are actually now owned by the Army, they were provided by America's Vet Dogs. They are part of a Combat Stress Control (CSC) unit. CSC units are where soldiers can get help if they are depressed or dealing with problems, and such. They provide counseling, stress-reduction, etc.



> Quote:A while back I saw a post of a GSD jumping out of an airplane for the military, whats up with that?


What was the post about?

The military has experimented with air-dropping dogs since World War II. The British were recently talking about parachuting dogs in with Special Forces soldiers, and sending the dogs ahead of their handlers with cameras, as scouts (essentially).


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## ituneyou (Dec 20, 2008)

Heres a link to Lackland Air Force Base website its the Department of defence military dog training center and you can also adopt a retired military dog, cool stuff.
http://www.lackland.af.mil/units/341stmwd/index.asp

steve


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## nysirk (Apr 15, 2008)

Thanks for the info, man, there is so very very much to learn about the dog training world!

I can't remember exactly what the post was about, I was staring at the picture trying to depict weather it was real or photo-shopped because it seemed so un-real to me..... I believe now it is real. 

Adopting a retired military dog, wow that sounds nice, already trained mature ect... 
I still feel like I kinda cheated ("rescuing") Dexter because i rescued a Puppy, He sure has no idea that he came from anything bad or any uncertain future hes so spoiled-rotten (in the good ways). Eh maybe next dog I will actually get a dog that is in true real need of rescue, I love working out issues, and trying to rehab anyways.... makes me a better owner/trainer.


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## ituneyou (Dec 20, 2008)

Yea i spend alot of time on that website, great looking dogs there.
By the way how cold is it in rochester right now, i use to live Upstate NY years ago up in the caskills, monticello to be exact.

steve


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## nysirk (Apr 15, 2008)

Very nice site!
Currently is about 10 degrees, with about 12 inch's of snow predicted by tomorrow night... lucky you moved out of here, I feel like im living in a freezer! I don't even want to know how Beautiful and warm it must be in southern Cali right now, enjoy some of the warmth for me please!!!


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## ituneyou (Dec 20, 2008)

Actually its been very cold here the past week,right now as we speak its about 30 degrees and in the 40s during the day, have no idea where all this cold weather is coming from and nothing but rain all of last week.

steve


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## miket (Jan 24, 2009)

There's a short PDF article which gives a nice overview of the MWD program:

http://www.wood.army.mil/MPBULLETIN/pdfs/Sep03pdfs/Parker,Emery,Chandler-Lackland.pdf


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

The DoD has a site about military working dog news articles -
http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/2006/working-dogs/index.html

For info on the history of Military Working Dogs (WWII until Vietnam), this is a great file to get started -
http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/2006/working-dogs/index.html

If anyone is interested in the history, let me know. I have a bunch of links regarding the history, and some of the books/manuals on MWDs I have, I have scanned and on my Fotki page for anyone to look at / read. I have others in .pdf format, too, and more in print that I haven't scanned yet due to time.

There's also a great blog that is updated every so often (not very frequently) with news articles of currently working MWD's, here -
http://k9pride.wordpress.com/


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