Military Working Dog Photos (picture heavy!)

[Jeeper704]

Some really nice GSDs among them.
I have this little photo of a German Shepherd taken in 1940 or something.
But I can't tell if it is a Military Working Dog though.

Could be a German GSD for all I know.

Erwin

[Abby K-9]

Great photos, everyone!!!

Here are some Vietnam photos I've got in my reference file.

Sentry Dog Nemo. See this link for more information.



This is in Thailand, if memory serves.

Aluminum dog crates used as kennels. (If anyone is looking for crates similar to those for their impression, Elite K-9 carries them.)

[Abby K-9]

And a couple more Vietnam photos.

[Abby K-9]

Desert Shield / Storm.

The photos below go along with an oral history interview of SSG James Leach, which can be found here (click the word "here"), at the Center for Military History. It's a pretty interesting read. Considering that there hardly are any photos out there of working dogs in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, that interview is a great resource.

And a couple unrelated Desert Shield/Storm photos.

[Abby K-9]

And last but not least, modern (Bosnia through today) photos of US MWD teams. In no particular order.

The Doggles (eye protection) are on upside down....

[Abby K-9]

More "modern" photos.

MWD Rin Tin.


MWD Hero.


From the 2007 TRADOC MWD Competition.

One thoroughly unhappy dog!



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.

[Abby K-9]

For good measure, the military's newest "type" of working dog - therapy dogs.

 

Budge & Boe (See article here, on America's Vet Dogs site.)

[shrapneldude]

For good measure, the military's newest "type" of working dog - therapy dogs.

 

Thanks for posting this link! They already got a donation out of me! Haha

 

I think the therapy dogs are just a great program. When I started to lose my mind, it was the mutts and my wife that kept me sane...can't imagine where I'd be without the dogs though.

Was digging through some of my old Marine photos and found these -- they're not working dogs, but these photos were taken by a Marine in Haiti, and this pooch was their detachment's mascot until she had the puppies and was deemed impure...so the Marine became the proud pack leader of several young dogs there.

 

Do we consider the USMC Mascot bulldogs "working dogs"?

[Abby K-9]

Awww... they're so cute.

 

Do we consider the USMC Mascot bulldogs "working dogs"?

 

No, mascots are considered to be mascots, not working dogs. Mind you, they're adorable and they're great dogs, and they're definitely continuing a long tradition of mascots, but they're not working dogs.

[The Meatcan]

Abby K-9,

thanks to you (& all the others) for posting and creating this thread. I can appreciate how hard those dogs and handlers must work.

 

Question: can MWDs be "mutts" or are specific breeds preferred? I saw lots of German shepherds, Malinois, and labs I think in all the photos. Does anyone use Belgian sheepdogs for instance? Is there a specific breed preference? Or is it the aptitude of the dog, purebred or mutt, that is the determining factor in the dog's selection for service?

 

thanks for sharing!

[shrapneldude]

Abby K-9,

thanks to you (& all the others) for posting and creating this thread. I can appreciate how hard those dogs and handlers must work.

 

Question: can MWDs be "mutts" or are specific breeds preferred? I saw lots of German shepherds, Malinois, and labs I think in all the photos. Does anyone use Belgian sheepdogs for instance? Is there a specific breed preference? Or is it the aptitude of the dog, purebred or mutt, that is the determining factor in the dog's selection for service?

 

thanks for sharing!

 

I read recently that the Marine Corps only used Doberman and German Shep. dogs during WWII, but not sure if that's true.

 

This is a fascinating topic -- the MWD. They've saved a lot of lives over the years.

[Abby K-9]

Question: can MWDs be "mutts" or are specific breeds preferred? I saw lots of German shepherds, Malinois, and labs I think in all the photos. Does anyone use Belgian sheepdogs for instance? Is there a specific breed preference? Or is it the aptitude of the dog, purebred or mutt, that is the determining factor in the dog's selection for service?

 

Are you talking about currently or historically?

 

Here's what "Dogs at War", published in 1944, says about breeds, page 14 -

 

Unlike the Marines and the Coast Guard, the Army uses a wide variety of breeds on the theory that it isn't the breed that counts as much as the dog himself, just as it isn't necessarily racial background that makes a man a good soldier.

 

The following so-called medium-size breeds or crossbreeds of these breeds are used by the Army: Airedale Terriers, Alaskan Malamutes, Belgian and German Shepherds, Boxers, Bullmastiffs, Chesapeake Bay, Curly-Coated and Flat-Coated Labrador Retrievers, Dalmatians, Doberman Pinschers, Eskimo and Siberian Huskies, Giant Schnauzers, Irish Water Spaniels, and Collies, preferably the farm type.

 

Some time after the start of the K-9 Corps, the Army asked Dogs for Defense to recruit a number of small breeds for the specialized and highly exacting work of locating mines. These dogs included Cocker Spaniels, Fox Hounds, Basset Hounds, English Springer Spaniels, Otter Hounds, and Shipperkes. But experience showed that the medium-size breeds were best suited to this dangerous duty.

 

The ad below is from the 1980's, looking for suitable military working dogs -

 

 

The US military eventually limited the breeds for patrol duties to German Shepherds, Belgian Shepherds, and Malinois, although they do not need to be purebred - and there currently is no requirement that the dogs need to be purebred. There are Malinois, Tervuren, Groenendal, and German Shepherds in the military now. And Labrador Retrievers of any color as detector dogs. I don't know whether the US military uses any Springer Spaniels, but the British military uses Springers as explosives dogs, and some US agencies (like customs) also have Springers and Beagles.

 

The DoD military working dog school at Lackland AFB's has a procurement information sheet on its website that states that they are looking for "German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, Dutch Shepherds and Sporting breeds, 12 to 36 months of age. Dogs do not have to be purebred but have the dominant characteristics of the breeds listed."

 

About half of the dogs procured each year by the Air Force for the DoD military working dog program come from outside the United States (vendors in Germany and the Netherlands). In 2000, this led to an investigation as to whether this violated the Buy American Act. The investigation concluded that US vendors did not produce enough dogs suitable for the working dog program, which I can believe. There are very few quality breeders of working line German Shepherds in the US, so I imagine it would be similar for Malinois.

[Mr-X]

The Australian Army currently use German Sheppard's for MP work and they will consider any type of dog for Explosive Detection Dog (Engineer) duties, provided it is a certain size, weight and age.

 

 

If anybody is interested I have PDF copies of :

 

FM 25-6 Dog Team Transportation dated 1941

 

FM 7-40 Scout Dog Training and Employment dated 1973

 

If anyone would like a copy of either of these drop me a PM with your email and I'll send it out.

 

Thanks.

Leigh

[Abby K-9]

Speaking of manuals, I have the following as PDF files. If anyone would like them, send me your email and I will send them. (If they're small enough to be emailed, anyway. Some of these are pretty big.)

 

Dogs in WWII

Dogs for Defense by Fairfax Downey (1955)

 

Dogs in Vietnam

Remote Control of War Dogs (Remotely Controlled Scout Dogs) (1974)

The Contributions of the American Military Working Dog in Vietnam by LtCdr Murray (1998)

 

Modern

AR 190-12 Military Working Dogs (1993)

DA Pam 190-12 Military Working Dog Program (1993)

Department of the Navy Military Working Dog Manual (1997)

FM 19-10 - only pages on Employing Military Working Dog Teams (recent, not sure of date)

FM 3.19-17 Military Working Dogs (2005)

 

And if anyone's looking for MWD forms

DD1741 - MWD Immunization Record

DD1743 - MWD Death Certificate

DD1829 - Record of MWD Physical Examination

DD1834 - MWD Service Record

DD2619 - MWD Master Problem List

[gunbarrel]

Good article from the January 2009 issue of VFW:

 

http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=news.magDt...=3&mid=4875

[Misanthropic_Gods]

I felt that this thread was a better place to post these than the "Dogs in the Military" thread because it seems that thread had more mascots than MWD's.

I downloaded 490 pictures of SF in A-stan last night and some of them had some cool pictures of MWD's in them, so I decided to post them up

These are from Iraq I believe, the same dog and handler are in both pictures