Honor Miltary Dogs on March 13, K9 Veterans Day

K9 Veterans Day

               Though not an official holiday, March 13^th marks K9 Veterans Day, a day to honor and remember all the dogs who serve as part of our United States Military branches.  While dogs were occasionally used for wartime purposes prior to 1942, the date March 13 was chosen because it marks the official start of the Army K9 Corps or War Dogs training program.  Dogs were later trained for use by the U.S. Navy, Marines and Coast Guard as well.  There was even a small temporary training center in 1942 in Beltsville, MD in the 1940's.

               What services do dogs perform in the military?  War dogs perform a variety of vital services for various branches of the military.  With their superior sense of smell, dogs are trained for tracking, detection of intruders, and identification of bombs or other explosives and drugs as well as for search and rescue or for location of cadavers. Some dogs are trained specifically to detect land mines.  Dogs are also often employed as sentries to accompany soldiers on patrol and alert them to danger and intruders.  Some dogs are trained to be silent scout or patrol dogs who alert soldiers to enemy presence using body language.  Dogs have also been used as messengers.  The CIA started using dogs in the 1990s for detecting explosives and other duties.

               What breeds of dogs are used as War Dogs?  There was some trial and error in the ‘40’s when the K9 Corps training program began, but, seven breeds were identified as being most desirable:  German Shepherds, Belgian sheep dogs, Doberman-Pinschers, farm collies, Siberian huskies, Malamutes and Eskimo dogs.  Today, the German Shepherd is the preferred breed due to its intelligence, predictability, trainability and moderate aggression.  Other breeds such as the Belgian Malinois and various breeds of retrievers are also frequently employed. All dogs currently used by the U.S. military are trained by the 341st Military Working Dog Training Squadron, Lackland AFB, TX.  Training lasts about 12 weeks.

               Our military currently employs approximately 1600 canines, the vast majority of which are imported from Europe.  The American Kennel Club recently formed the AKC Detection Dog Task Force in an attempt to get U.S. breeders involved in producing dogs for explosive-detection and patrol-detection assignments.  Conan, a Belgian Malinois is one of the most recently recognized K9 heroes for taking part in the raid that killed ISIS leader al-Baghdadi in 2019.

               Dogs have been loyal companions throughout war times, and have served and saved many soldiers for nearly a century. Let’s salute and honor our K9 Veterans this March!

               This blog brought to you by the Patton Veterinary Hospital serving Red Lion, York and the surrounding communities.

               http://www.uswardogs.org/war-dog-history/types-war-dogs/

               https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/u-s-army-launches-k-9-corps

               https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/lifestyle/war-dogs-military-history/