These dogs, are deployed worldwide to support the war on terror along with their handlers from every military service, helping to safeguard military bases and activities and to detect bombs and other explosives before they inflict harm.
Why Use Working Dogs?
Rolfe explained, with
an acute sense of smell and five to ten
times stronger than a human' working dogs can detect minute traces of
explosives or drugs and alert the handlers of their presence.
Many people think that
the dog-handler profession is an art
form as there are so many nuances that the human must be able to interpret. Not
just anyone can step in and perform the job, the missions require the kind of
autonomy that not everyone is mature enough to handle and the hours are long
too .
The dogs have the
ability to inflict fear in an aggressor in a way a human ,even if armed , often
can't , Staff Sgt. Andrew Mier , military working dog trainer said "People see a dog and don't want to
mess with it" ."A dog creates a strong psychological deterrent."
BREEDS OF WORKING DOGS
Majority of U.S.
military working dogs are German, Belgian Malinois and Dutch shepherds and
these breeds are very smart, very
aggressive, very athletic and very loyal .
WORKING DOGS HISTORY
The U.S. military has used working dogs since the Revolutionary War, initially as cover animals, and later, for more advanced uses, such as killing rats in the trenches.
TRAINING PROGRAM
The 120-day program
teaches the dogs basic obedience as well as more advanced skills, such as how
to sniff for specific substances and how to attack. Rolfe said the initial
training program, conducted by the 341st Training Squadron team, is based on "positive
rewards" -- generally a rubber toy or ball rather than food. They learned
long ago that food works only for some time not so long. What the dog really
wants us to do is play with it.
Members of the 37th Security Forces teach the dogs and their trainers to work as a team, after the dogs receive their initial training. Air Force Staff Sgt. Sean Luloffs, an instructor at the school,said that “one of the biggest challenges is getting a handler to recognize what a dog is showing him".
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