MAN'S BEST FRIEND

MAN’S BEST FRIEND

Amy Lockerbie Smith

I never realized the importance dogs have played in wars until our recent conflicts.  Now we hear many, many feats of valor performed by our canine friends.

These stories prompted me to investigate further.  For the sake of time and space, I will not start where I could have . . . I was surprised to learn MWDs (Military Working Dogs) aren’t new to warfare. Some Egyptian murals depict dogs as being unleashed on their enemy’s warriors.   Greeks warring with the Persians record using dogs in their battles; some dogs were described as being protected with coats of mail.  American Indians used canines as watch dogs and as draft animals in their conflicts.

The most common breed used for MWDs has been German Shepherds, however, in recent years, smaller dogs such as Belgian Malinois and Dutch Shepherds have been found to have a keener sense of smell and hearing for the necessary detection work.  These attributes make them easy to train to ferret out concealed enemies and booby traps.  They can do so undetected and silently so much better than their human counterparts.  The MWDs are paired with one handler for at least a year, sometimes even longer.

All the training these dogs received in the service of our country is well carried over into civilian life.  After retiring from the service, they generally join a police force where today these wonderful animals put their sophisticated methods to work to detect minuscule amounts of explosives.  They provide drug detection by sniffing out a broad range of psychoactive substances at airports and other checkpoints where high security is necessary; any place where there is a need for anti-contraband measures.  It shouldn’t surprise anyone they are used to guard the White House.   These heroes’ are capable of achieving a success rate in bomb detection of over 98%.   It would have been a good idea to have had them available before the Boston Marathon.

Thanks to a new law the retired MWDs are eligible for adoption by civilians.  In many cases it is the handlers or their families who adopt the dog who has been in combat with the soldier.   Unfortunately, prior to 2000 the law required older war dogs to be euthanized. 

There are many wonderful stories of these adoptions.  One I’ll briefly mention; a soldier, Dustin Lee was killed in action.  His MWD, Lex, was seriously injured at the same time, but would not leave his soldier’s side.  Lex had to be literally dragged away in spite of his condition. 

Making a long story short, the Lee family went through a difficult battle in order to adopt Lex, but eventually won.  Lex lived for some time with 50 pieces of shrapnel in his body; he died March 25, 2012 from cancer.   Lex was indeed, a man’s best friend.