Dogs

DOGS IN WAR (Under construction)

All kinds of dogs have been used in wars, even little ones like Silky Terriers. In World WAR I One soldier smuggled his Silkie called Driver inside his soldier's coat. The dog went all over France and Belgium with his master. He was very useful for killing rats in the trenches. Sometimes he was frightened by the noise of the bombs and guns and once he ran away in terror and wasn't found for two whole days.

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=Training= Dogs can be too noisy sometimes. Barking to raise the alarm is helpful, but barking can also tell the enemy where you are. Dogs may cause danger to the soldiers if they bark at the wrong time so they have to be trained to keep quiet some of the time. Dogs that are used to search for explosives are trained by their handlers. It's important that they bond and that the dog knows who its master is. The soldier and the dog need to do everything together, so it is the soldier who feeds the dog, grooms it, and teaches it to search for the explosives. They are trained to sit quietly next to the explosives and wait while the handler radios the other soldiers to warn them. Puppies are trained not to be scared of strangers and busy places by taking them into shopping centres and family backyards. These dogs are worth about $30,000 when you add up
 * the cost of training
 * transport to the war zone
 * food
 * veterinary care.

Survival
Most dogs who serve in war are not allowed to come home to Australia afterwards because of Quarantine (see pages 34 and 35 of //M is for Mates// to find out what this is) but soldiers try to find homes for them. Dogs that serve in Afghanistan do come home because they are worth so much money. Check out //X is in Explosives// on page 46 and 47 of //M is for Mates// to see pictures of dogs working in Afghanistan and East Timor. Have a look at page 31 to see how the soldiers have protected the dog from thorns and rocks in Afghanistan.

Check out Wikipedia/Dogs (especially the pictures at the bottom) to see examples of how dogs have been used in war.

Sources used for this page:
//M is for Mates//, Department of Veterans' Affairs, 2009, pages 31, 34 - 35, 46, 47, 48