Miller uses Gabriel in cordon and searches, cordon and knocks, raids, route sanitation and route clearance missions to sniff out explosives, munitions, weapons and ammunition. Div., encourages his specialized search dog, Gabriel, before a search exercise at Forward Operating Base Hammer Oct. Richard Miller, from Floresville, Texas, a military policeman with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Inf. To handlers they welcome the challenge and are confident their dogs can overcome and adapt to anything that comes their way. Adjusting to battle field conditions as well as keeping up with technology is an ongoing process for the dog teams and constant training is required to fine tune these newly taught skills. SSD’s are a result of today’s modern warfare as they were introduced to the military within the last few years. SSD’s can have radio headset attached to them with a small microphone which allows the handler to give the dog commands through his radio. SSD’s allow the handlers to stay in control of the dog through voice and hand commands without being in danger of a potential ambush or IED detonation. When a handler gets called upon to search an alley, bridge, or road they can have a bad gut feeling and sometimes be hesitant to walk down those areas with their dogs. With a normal mwd, military working dog, a handler would normally have to be close by the dogs side to guide it and assist it while searching. One of these tasks some of the dogs are specifically trained to do is search for explosives and munitions independent from it’s handler. Within these kennels are war dogs capable of doing specific tasks. Now there are dog kennels being entirely devoted to deployments. Dog teams were primarily relegated to being military police k9 units patrolling the bases, being gate guards, and performing specialized missions off base every so often. Used primarily as sentry, messenger, and scout dogs in the previous wars dog teams have had to learn new skills and develop new training programs to become battle ready in today’s combat zones.Īfter the Vietnam war, dog teams had not been used extensively in combat related missions until the “War on Terrorism” presented itself.
As the wars came and gone throughout the years war dog teams have had to continually adjust and adapt to modern day warfare. military during WWI and were used to accomplish war related tasks. Since there is nothing better that can detect bombs better than dogs it makes sense to include them on the war front to help deter any explosives and save both military and civilian lives.ĭogs were introduced to the U.S.
This may depend on the dog's area of specialty, but combat is always a possibility as an active-duty service member.
Combat missions: The Army may send the dog handler and their companion animal on active-duty missions.This can include grooming, feeding, walking and other exercise, vet visits and other healthcare for dogs. Care of the service animal: A handler is responsible for the basic care of their service animal.A dog handler can expect to take part in drills, physical training regimens and specific exercises such as tracking or explosive detection that can train the MWD in their specialty. A handler continues conditioning training, basic obedience and controlled aggression training. Training: Besides initial training of handler and MWD, training continues daily as both the handler and dog must stay in strong physical shape at all times.