Working dogs get heavy use in war zones - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

Working dogs get heavy use in war zones

SAN ANTONIO — They can be cute and cuddly, or aggressive and protective. They expertly sniff out bombs and skillfully search for hidden insurgents. Best of all, man’s highly trained best friend doesn’t ask for much beyond a toy and praise.

That’s why the military’s working dogs are being used more and more in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the demand for their abilities continues to hold steady even as the number of U.S. troops in Iraq has dropped below 50,000.

“Every dog that goes downrange and finds caches or enemy fighters, they’re saving lives,” said Air Force Capt. Joseph Schneider, operations officer for the 341st Training Squadron at Lackland Air Force Base here.

The Air Force — and the 341st — is the executive agent in charge of all handler, kennel master and dog training.

Every year, the squadron produces about 300 military working dogs and about 540 handlers, Schneider said.

The demand for these dogs is steady, Schneider said.

“The dogs are being utilized more,” he said. “We have sent a significant number of dogs downrange already.”

In the past few years, the squadron has filled 98 percent of the Defense Department’s requirements for military dogs, Schneider said. He declined to provide more detailed numbers.

The instructors at Lackland must focus on keeping training up to date to meet the ever-changing tactics and materials used by enemies building and planting bombs.

“One of the things we’re doing is keeping up with the different types of explosives that are being used [downrange] so we can keep training on the new things,” Schneider said.

The schoolhouse teaches the basic Defense Department dog course, in which dogs are trained to detect and patrol, which includes defending their handler and chasing and biting suspects.

Dogs trained for this type of work must be “committed to the bite, have a high concentration level, [and] have a temperament to learn,” said Air Force Staff Sgt. Heaven Adams, a military working-dog instructor.

The most commonly used breeds are shepherds, which have a higher bite force but also a tendency to develop hip dysplasia, and the Belgian Malinois. These dogs are not prone to hip dysplasia and are faster and more aggressive than the shepherds, Adams said.

The 341st also has dogs in the specialized search course, where the dogs are trained to go off leash in search of explosives, independent of their Army or Marine handlers.

Most of the specialized search dogs are Labradors, but the military recently started training German shorthaired pointers and Vizslas as well, said Army Sgt. Dylan Rainey, a specialized search dog instructor.

“We’re looking for [dogs that are] nonaggressive but not timid, independent but will listen,” Rainey said. “There’s a definite demand for these dogs.”

The specialized search dogs are unique because of their ability to run off their leashes and away from their handler, limiting their handler’s exposure to hidden bombs.

“It’s terrible to say, but we can always train a new dog and replace them but you can’t replace a person,” Rainey said.

One new addition, added in 2009, is combat tracking training.

Here the dogs learn to track humans, whether to find missing friendly forces or hunt down a hidden insurgent or someone who just planted a roadside bomb, Schneider said.

Combat tracking currently is only a Marine Corps requirement but it could expand to the other services in the future, Schneider said.

“It’s pretty neat, the capability they provide,” he said, citing as an example a Marine handler who used his combat tracker dog to find a high-value target by tracking him through an entire town and into the house where the suspect was hiding.

However, just as years of war have taken their toll on the troops, the dogs are showing signs of wear, too, Schneider said.

“With the deployments, we’re finding the dogs’ average working ages is coming down,” he said. “It’s hard work on the dogs.”

On average, the average working dog’s work life has decreased from 11 years to 9.5 years, Schneider said.

“We’ve chosen dogs that can work hard, with long life spans, [but] the dogs have a physical toll that they take,” Schneider said. “There will be a need to replenish the dogs downrange, so we’ll need to continue the production [here at the schoolhouse].”