DOGS OF WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 37, 7 November 1917, Page 8

DOGS OF WAR

HOW THEY ARE USED IN THE FRENCH ARMY

FINE MESSAGE CARRIERS

Mr. H. Wood, United Press Association correspondent; with the French armies, writes:—

Dogs havo now become of such a general and important use throughout the entire French Army that it is no longer possible to supply the demand. Although numerous societies throughout France for the breeding ot dogs send, large and regular quotas to the armies, and although every dog pound in Franco contributes every 'cur that comes its way, thousands of dogs are still needed. For the numerous duties that havo been developed dogß, regardless of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude, can be utilised. The only qualification necessary is that of an averago dog's intelligence, which is sufficient to permit its being trained for one of the regular services now assigned to the canine tribe in the French Army. A dog kennel Jand by kennel is' meant an establishment large enough for the training of hundreds of dogs) is now just as muon the regular equipment of every IVcnoh army as are its kitchens, its automobile trains, or its munitions caissons. The kennel for each army is usually situated in the front lino, where the army is fighting. As fast as dogs can be secured and trained they are sent down to tho front for active participation in the fighting. Like everything olsa in the present great struggle, the role of tho dog lias changed and developed to an extent never before dreamed of. Previously war dogs had been trained only for two general purposes—that of carrying aid to the wounded and that of accompanylnS patrols for tile purpose of scenting out the enemy. The Belgians had added one rola of their own, owing to tho development of dog transportation in the country—namely, that of do? teams for drawing machine-guns. While these original roles are 3till preserved to a certain extent in the present struggle, the Dew tasks that have been developed fo» dogs are vastly more numerous and n^' , Three of these roles—those of liaison" dogs—sjntinel dogs—can almost be said to have attained a degree of supreme importance. Tho 'liaison" dogs, or those that carry messages from the first lino.fighting troops to the commanding officers in the rear, navo perhaps the most dangerous and the most useful role.

His New Role. One of the greatest problems developed by the present war—anji one that has not yet been successfully solved by tny army —is that of keeping up communication between the forco attacking and the artillery and commanding in the rear. "The terrible barrages of artillery fire with which tho enemy'seeks to cut off and prevent such communication explain the difficulty of the problem—a difficulty that is only equalled by the supreme necessity of a solution. The principal methods up to date have been only ground and surface telephones (that are laid as fast as the troops advance), wireless telegraph, aeroplanes, and foot runners. • Recently the Germans have tried a system of enclosing 'he messages in a shell and shooting it from a trench mortar through the French barrage to the rear. None of these has comptately solved the problem, any more than has the use of dojs by the French, but the latter are nevertheless rendering the most extraordinary service. Thousands of dogsare found ths-t have an aptitude for this task. They are given a speoial training, even down to accustoming them to shell and barrage fire. Once they are Riven the message to oarry to the rear it is seldom if ever that they fail lo arrive with it, unless first killed cither by shell or machinegun fire. Hundreds of these dogs have and are still falling victims cn the field of honour, but when it is considered that every dog thus killed save the life of a soldier who would have otherwise been obliged to carry the message rearward, it is readily seen that their deaths are not in vain.

Many dogs that fail to show an aptitude for "liaison" work develop into excellent sentinels. The training and I aptitude for this is not 60 easily de> veloped as might be imagined, owing to the fact that the most valuable services must bo rendered at night. Hundreds of dogs that prove first-class sentinels Idiuring the day might become nervous, fidgety, and excitable under night conditions at the front. The dogs, however, that arrive afc tho perfection required talc© their place on the top of the trench alongside the sun-barrel of their master, detect every patrol or every individual soldier that attempts to approach the barbed-wire entanglements in front, and lets his master know in a nuiet way, without even tipping off to the enemy that his approach has been discovered/ Although these new roles hare superseded to a larpe extent tho original ones of carrying! aid to tlie wounded on the battlefield, dogs are sti'l being trained and used in this work. One of the veterans along this line, who is named "Dick," and who won the Croix de Guerre at Verdun, where his master was killed and badly wounded, has just recovered sulßciently to go back into service. He has been attached to a section of the American Ambulance. Another one of these early Red Cross type, who also won the Croix de Guerre, but who was too badly wounded ever to be able to return to service, is being used in a unique way. He has the task of monitor at the Army Dog Hospital at Neuilly, and sees to it that refractory and recalcitrant dogs become docile and obedient. If compulsory education for dogs produces the same general increase in intelligence that it is supposed to for humans, the canine population rf Franoe, with the close of the wiir, should be the centre of dog intelligence of the entire world.