Dogs Roles in Wars

19. Jun, 2010 0 Comments

Dogs in warfare have a long history starting in ancient times. From ‘war dogs’ trained in combat to their use as scouts, sentries and trackers, their uses have been varied and some continue to exist in modern military usage.

Dogs have been used for many different purposes. Different breeds were used for different things, but always met the demands of the handlers. Many roles for dogs in war are obsolete and no longer practiced.

Anti-tank warfare

Anti-tank dogs were dogs taught to carry explosives to tanks, armored vehicles and other military targets. They were actively trained by the Soviet and Russian military forces in 1930–1996 and used in 1941–1942 against German tanks in World War II. Although the original dog training routine was to leave the bomb and retreat so that the bomb would be detonated by the timer, this routine failed and was replaced by the impact detonation procedure which killed the dog in the process. The U.S. military trained anti-tank dogs in 1943 for use against fortifications, but never deployed them. Dogs strapped with explosives were unsuccessfully used by Iraqi insurgents in 2005.

Attack dogs

An attack dog is any dog bred, trained or used for the purpose of attacking a target either on command or on sight.Attack dogs have been used often throughout history and are now employed in dog fighting, as well as police and military roles.

Military mascot

Military mascot refers to a pet animal maintained by a military unit for ceremonial purposes or as an emblem of that unit.It may also be referred to as a ceremonial pet or regimental mascot.It differs from a military animal in that it is not employed for use directly in warfare as a weapon or for transport.

Medical research

In World War II, dogs took on a new role in medical experimentation, as the primary animals chosen for medical research.The animal experimentation allowed doctors to test new medicine without risking human lives, though these practices came under more scrutiny after the war. The United States’ government responded by proclaiming these dogs as heroes.

The Cold War sparked a heated debate over the ethics of animal experimentation in the U.S., particularly aimed at how canines were treated in World War II. In 1966, major reforms came to this field with the adoption of the Laboratory Animal Welfare Act.

Scouts

Some dogs are trained to silently locate booby traps and concealed enemies such as snipers. The dog’s keen senses of smell and hearing would make them far more effective at detecting these dangers than humans. The best scout dogs are described as having a disposition intermediate to docile tracking dogs and aggressive attack dogs.

Scout dogs were used in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam by the United States to detect ambushes, weapon caches, or enemy fighters hiding underwater, with only reed breathing straws showing above the waterline. The US operated a number of scout dog platoons (assigned on a handler-and-dog team basis to individual patrols) and had a dedicated dog training school in Fort Benning, Georgia.

Drug and explosives detection

Both MWDs and their civilian counterparts provide service in drug detection, sniffing out a broad range of psychoactive substances despite efforts at concealment. Provided they have been trained to detect it, MWDs can smell small traces of nearly any substance, even if it is in a sealed container. Dogs trained in drug detection are normally used at ports of embarkation such as airports, checkpoints, and other places where there is high security and a need for anti-contraband measures.

MWDs can also be trained to detect explosives. As with narcotics, trained MWDs can detect minuscule amounts of a wide range of explosives, making them useful for searching entry points, patrolling within secure installations, and at checkpoints. These dogs are capable of achieving over a 98% success rate in bomb detection

Intimidation

It is believed that the use of dogs on prisoners in Iraq was learned from practices at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.The use of dogs on prisoners by regular U.S. forces in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base was prohibited by Donald Rumsfeld in April 2003. A few months later following revelations of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, including use of dogs to terrify naked prisoners; Rumsfeld then issued a further order prohibiting their use by the regular U.S. forces in Iraq.