DOGS IN WARFARE.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXXIII, Issue 12585, 5 October 1908, Page 3

DOGS IN WARFARE.

A regular system of dog-drilling is going on in Germany, and many other foreign countries, for use during war. Not only are dogs used by the ambulance corps to seek out the wounded, bring them brandy, water, and soup, fetch the ambulance attendants, and help to draw the injured, on little handcarts, to the field hospital, all of which services they perform with wonderful accuracy, intelligence, and skill; but they are being attached to some of the regiments as regular four-footed soldiers. In their capacity, tha first lesson they have to learn is silence. They are taught to repress the outbreak of barking, by which they would announce their presence to an enemy, and to replace this mode of signalling by a low growl audible only to their friends. This is a difficult task. It is followed by a still more difficult task. The war dog has to learn that while all dogs are dogs, men are divided into friends and enemies, and the way to distinguish them is by the colour of their trousers. The way this fine distinction is impressed on their intellect is by dressing soldiers up in Russian and French uniforms, and making them beat and ill-treat the dogs, and abuse them in French and Russian ; whereas soldiers in German uniform are told off to pet and caross the canine recruits, and regale them on that delicacy dear to all beings born in the Fatherland — the sausage. Doubtless, when the day comes, the dog will recollect, and many a French and Russian leg will bear witness to the power of his memory and the sharpness of his tooth. At night, when all trousers appear alike, his task will not be so easy ; but perhaps the passages he has had with his enemy's legs by day will have taught him to distinguish them in the darkness.

At night, too, the dogs will be able to render good service to 'tho* outpost 3 their quick sense of hearing enabling them to announce the approach of footsteps long before they have been detected by duller human ears.

The drilling of the dogs for outpost duty is an easy matter. On the other hand, it is most difficult to teach them to cary despatches quickly from one point to another. Dogs are born loiterers, and patience, strictness, and time are necessary to make them learn to withstand temptations to play about on the way, and to press straight on to their goal. Night is the best time for this work ; the dogs are less inclined to loiter in the darkness than in the daylight, and the chances of their being seen and captured by the enemy arc fewer. They carry the despatches in a little leather bag, which is buckled on to the light iron collar they wear. One of the greatest difficulties in drilling the dogs is their terror at the sound of firearms. The bravest dog will turn and flee at the noise made by a cannon, and it is a long time before their fear may be overcome. When once they are acustomed to the detonation, however, they are the most steadfast and obedient of soldiers. Grey Pomeraniuns are found to niake the best soldierdogs on account of their great muscular strength, their quickness in learning, and their unobtrusive colour. -For ambulance service, however, Scotch collies are considered the best breed, i