Belgian Dogs trained to draw quick-firing guns
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?
What They Have Done
The present-day tendency consequently is to bring dogs more and more into the foreground in warfare. During the Russo-Japanese War the whole of the Manchurian Railway line was guarded by dogs, who gave the alarm, and on several occasions prevented the Japanese crossing the line. Those which were sent out from England with the Abor Expedition, N. W. Frontier, more than once prevented the sentries from being rushed during night duty, owing to their keener sense of hearing. In the Tripoli campaign their value was frequently demonstrated, while the dogs belonging to Major Richardson, the famous English trainer of war dogs, rendered yeoman service to the Bulgarians at the siege of Adrianople, where they were able to give warning of attempted sorties by the Turks. Some of Major Richardson’s well-trained animals were also used in the Spanish trenches in Morocco, being responsible for the finding of hundreds of wounded men who would otherwise have been left to their fate.
Used by Great Armies
At the present moment most of the modern armies employ dogs, although naturally opinions differ as to the most suitable type of dog. The Russians have adopted the Caucasian dog; Austria, Dalmatians; Turkey, Asiatic Sheepdogs; France and Belgium, the smugglers’ dogs of the Belgium frontier; while Germany uses Collies, Pointers and Airedales. So far the British Army has ignored the value of trained dogs, though the Admiralty some five years ago instituted a scheme for the use of dogs in naval stations ashore. Major Richardson believes that the only really useful dogs are the Airedale, Sheepdog, and Bloodhound.
What part dogs will play in the present great conflict time only will show, but that it will probably be a large one may be gathered from the fact that the German army alone possesses over 6,000.