K9 Corps: The Military And Man’s Best Friend

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• More than 1,800 serve the United States. They train intensively. They learn to detect explosives, and they commit their time to protecting American troops. But they’re not your typical soldiers; they’re dogs.

  Doug Miller is the Military Working Dog program manager for the U.S. Department of Defense. He is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, and he’s a former dog handler.

  “They are a force multiplier. They are a force protection asset, and they are like the best friend, probably, of the handler,” Miller said. “Many times it’s lonely duty out there, and you’re talking to your dog more than you’re talking to other people.”

  Miller said a good handler is not afraid of the dog, shows them patience and is a respectful master. He said dogs and handlers deployed together sometimes even sleep on the same cot. Miller said service members often patrol in pairs, but a handler partners with a dog, meaning the two often develop a mutual trust.

  
  In this Sept. 8, 2011 photo, U.S. Marine dog handler Sgt. Mark Behl, of the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force K9 unit, from Cottage Grove, Wis, sits on a cot cleaning his rifle as his military working dog Fuli rests on another cot, at Forward Operating Base Jackson, in Sangin, Helmand province, Afghansiatn. Brennan Linsley/AP Photo

  The U.S. uses the German Shepherd, Dutch Shepherd, and Belgian Malinois as military working dogs.

  “We are looking for a dog that doesn’t have fear — fear of obstacles or their environment, stairs, things that they’ll encounter, slick floors, things like that — no fear of loud noises like gun fire or artillery,” Miller said.

  Community members foster puppies until they’re ready for training. That usually happens when they’re between one year and three years old. Miller said young Malinois dogs have a natural urge to gnaw.

  “They’re just very, very active — about the most active toddler you would find,” Miller said. “They’ll clear a desk or grab something and chew it. You’ve just got to watch them all the time.”

  After 120 days of obedience, detection and patrol training, military working dogs can deploy with a trained handler.

  Miller said the dogs are not equipment. He said the armed forces updated regulations and policies to reflect that working dogs are high-value, critical assets. He said the military does not desert dogs in combat theater.

  “We left a lot of dogs in Vietnam. We didn’t really have many options because of the fast evacuation we had to do out of there, but I will assure you that we do not do that anymore and haven’t since Vietnam, anyway,” Miller said. “Our handlers and dogs deploy together, and they come home together.“

  Military working dogs typically serve until they are nine or 10 years old. After that, they’re adopted — sometimes by their handlers.

  The K9 Corps began in 1942. Miller said dogs first transported supplies and messages. Then the military had sentry dogs — animals that bit and held on to the enemy. Miller said leaders in 1968 switched to dogs who responded to commands for patrol. He said the armed forces used dogs primarily to detect drugs. Then 9/11 happened, and the working dogs began more explosives detection.

  Miller said most dogs patrol or sniff out bombs. He said some are trained as mine dogs for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the U.S. Marines use specialized search dogs and combat trackers. He said military working dogs also have a role with the State Department and the U.S. Secret Service, protecting the president and other dignitaries.

  Lackland Air Force Base in Texas trains military working dogs for all four branches of the service.

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  Editor’s Note: This story mistakenly referred to “sentry” dogs as “century” dogs; the post has been updated to reflect the proper name for the military working dog.