Dogs of all nations / a complete work, profusely illustrated, bearing on the world's different varieties of the dog, grouped under their several nationalities, with descriptive matter explaining the characteristics and utility of each

by Walter Esplin Mason

Dogs in Warfare

“Cry Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war”

However trite may be the saying that history repeats itself, it is unquestionably apposite in regard to the employment of dogs in warfare. Great hounds were used to guard the camps of Rome. In even more primitive times they were formidable adversaries in hand-to-hand conflicts, while to come to more modern days Frederick the Great and Napoleon—two of the greatest soldiers the world has ever seen—held a very high opinion of the value of canine sentries. Napoleon, in fact, is said to have urged Marmont to fasten dogs to stakes around the circuit of the walls of Alexandria to keep guard.

Recent wars have served to emphasize the advantages which may be gained by the use of the peculiar qualities of scent and hearing which dogs possess. Their sense of scent we human beings lack almost entirely, while they not only hear audible things more quickly than we do, but also hear things which are quite inaudible to us. Is it to be wondered at, therefore, that military experts have not been slow to recognize such potential properties?