Dogs of War
Military working dogs gained widespread attention after Cairo participated in the SEAL Team 6 mission that led to Osama bin Laden’s death. Before that, few civilians realized that dogs served in combat, let alone that they could parachute from thirty thousand feet up.
The Dogs of War reveals the amazing range of jobs that our four-legged soldiers now perform, examines the dogs’ training and equipment, and sets the record straight on those rumors of titanium teeth. You’ll find heartwarming stories of the deep bond that dogs and their handlers share with each other, and learn how soldiers and civilians can help the cause by fostering puppies or adopting retirees.
An incredible story of the largely unseen but vital role that dogs play in our armed forces, The Dogs of War is a must-read for animal lovers everywhere.
Since the story first broke that there was a dog on the SEAL raid that brought down Osama bin Laden, there has been a lot of speculation and misinformation swirling around dogs in the military and the lives they lead.
After all, military working dogs (MWDs) are unique in the military, since they are the only living item in the entire supply chain. At the same time, however, they are regarded just like other soldiers.
“They get a place in the line just like everybody else,” said Army Staff Sergeant Robert Moore, a handler and kennel master with the 217th Military Police Detachment from Fort Lee, Virginia.
There will always be those critics and activists who believe that no dog should do the hard, gritty work of a soldier, let alone be subjected to sniper fire and worse in the middle of combat. However, those in the military hold firm that the life that a canine soldier leads is much more fulfilling and filled with care than that of most domestic dogs. Besides, every dog needs a purpose.
“These dogs are treated better than anybody’s dog in the house,” said Gerry Proctor, public affairs officer for the 37th Training Wing at Lackland, where most of the military’s dogs are trained. “In fact, it’s a punishable offense in the military to maltreat or mistreat a dog.”
This is the primary reason why the dogs are not only awarded a rank— that’s Sergeant Rover to you!— just like enlisted soldiers, but that rank is always one level higher than the handler’s. After all, if a human soldier were to physically or mentally abuse a superior in some fashion, it would be grounds for court-martial. “It’s like hitting a higher rank, and that’s not allowed,” said Technical Sergeant Jason Hanisko, handler with the 75th Security Forces Squadron at Hill Air Force Base near Ogden, Utah.
In fact, dogs and handlers often get upgraded to first class when they fly commercially; not only do airlines provide the upgrade as a reward for serving their country in a unique fashion, but they also rightly believe that their mere presence helps improve security on the plane. Clifford Hartley appreciates the special service.
“Many times, if the flight’s not full, the flight attendants will clear out a row of seats for us so the dog can stretch out,” he said, adding that both he and Cir appreciate it even more if there’s room in first class. “The flight attendants are always extremely nice and bring us food and drinks, and when other passengers see the dog, they always want to talk my ear off.
Why are these dogs cared for and treated so well? What special skills do they have that regular— human—soldiers do not?
In short, their senses of smell and hearing, and especially their loyalty, all combine into a superior ability when it comes to doing their jobs: protecting their handlers and the troops around them.
“They say one dog is worth about ten soldiers, not in their capabilities but in their senses,” said Air Force Staff Sergeant Zeb Miller, who served as handler to Nero, a German shepherd who helped him find explosives while deployed in Iraq in 2007. “Our job is to make a soldier’s job go faster.”
When it comes to sense of smell, dogs clearly excel. While humans have around forty million olfactory receptors in their nose, dogs have two billion, which means their sense of smell can be up to one hundred times better, depending on the breed. “Their sense of smell is so good that, for instance, with a cheeseburger, we might smell only the cheese or the burger, but they smell the cheese, the pickle, the tomato, and the lettuce,” said Air Force Staff Sergeant Patrick D. Spivey, a military handler teamed up with Bodro, a Belgian Malinois. “It is almost as if they smell it all in 3- D.”
“A dog’s sense of smell is similar to a human’s sense of vision,” Gerry Proctor added. “While we can detect a broad spectrum in a single color and see subtle differences in tone, shade, and intensity, they can do that through scent. They could pick up an artifact that we may have had from bin Laden and then track that scent.”
And they can do it at a distance, too, up to 250 yards away with no distractions and about 50 yards with wind and lots of competing scents. In fact, a study at Auburn University in Alabama, which has a department devoted to studying military working dogs, theorizes that dogs have the ability to detect the equivalent of a single drop of blood in an Olympic-size swimming pool, which translates to less than 500 parts per trillion.
They’re no slouches when it comes to their hearing, either, which is at once broader and more selective than ours. A dog can hear up to thirty-five thousand hertz per second while humans can barely manage twenty thousand, which means that it’s a piece of cake for them to hear footsteps nearby even when a fighter jet is taking off right next to them. They also are more sensitive to high-pitched noises and have the ability to close off their inner ear, which can help them block out background sounds in order to concentrate on a noise that’s directly in front of them.
It’s this combination of natural sensory perfection that just makes dogs— military or otherwise— so much better attuned to the world. Often it almost seems as if they’re clairvoyant and have a sixth sense that helps them to do their jobs. “There are certain things like a dog’s sense of smell, sight, hearing, everything about them is way more in tune than ours are,” said Spivey. “You might be out on a patrol, and to you it looks like a normal road, but then your dog lets you know, hey, there’s something not right there.”
Not to mention the fact that the ferocity of a military dog helps protect soldiers. “The intimidation factor of a barking dog is awesome,” said Petty Officer Second Class Johnny B. Mitchell. “People shut their mouths and comply.”
“A military dog’s presence brings both a psychological deterrent and a whole new level of assurance, whether it’s during patrols, detection, or the protection of the troops the dog’s with,” said Staff Sergeant Jonathan Bierbach, a handler with the 379th Security Forces Squadron who works with a three-year-old German shepherd named Deni.
“For some people, just walking into a room where there’s a dog is enough,” says Ken Licklider, a retired Air Force senior master sergeant who now owns Indiana-based Vohne Liche Kennels, which trains dogs for law enforcement agencies and the military. “It could be a Chihuahua, it could be a German shepherd, they would be just as afraid. When the dogs come on the scene, the [suspect] is obviously in a state of stress so naturally the dogs are going to key in on him and go into that mode where it looks like they’re in an attack mode. But in actuality, they’re just interested, and they smell the fear.”
“We take soldiers’ lives out of danger, in a sense, because instead of sending them out there to search for IEDs, we can use the dogs to do it,” said Sergeant First Class and handler Charles Shepker. “Our dogs can do things a lot faster than it would take humans to do them, and their senses of smell, sight, and hearing are far better than those of humans. I always trusted my dogs with my life. The other guys I was working with trusted the dogs’ noses with their lives. Downrange or overseas, most people feel a lot safer when they have dogs with them.”
“Without dogs, you’re just poking around with a stick, just waiting to get blown up,” said Lance Corporal William Crouse IV. But that doesn’t mean these canine-human teams aren’t still putting themselves in dangerous situations. Corporal Crouse was killed with his dog Cane on December 21, 2010, by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan only six weeks into his first tour of duty. His last words: “Get Cane in the Blackhawk!”
“These dogs are our partners,” said Navy Petty Officer First Class Michael Thomas, a kennel master with the 25th Military Police Company, 25th Infantry Division. “We travel with them, sleep with them, and live with them. They are our best friends. Every dog handler will agree that there is nothing we won’t do to protect our dogs.”
However, the most important aspect of having a dog travel with a unit is simple: Their presence saves lives. “People don’t realize how many lives MWDs save,” said Chief Master at Arms Ricky Neitzel, kennel master of Naval Station Rota’s Spain Security Department. “There are [many] instances in which MWDs have located explosive- laden vehicles or [detected] improvised explosive devices designed to kill or injure U.S. forces, as well as locating numerous weapons caches of small arms and ordnance used by insurgents and terrorists.”
Lisa Rogak’s “The Dogs of War sheds light on why the dog, more than any other animal, holds a special place in our history, and our hearts. The most comprehensive book I have ever read on the subject of military dogs, it exemplifies the indomitable spirit of the dog itself, ever selfless, loyal to a fault.”
—Steve Duno, author of Last Dog on the Hill
