War Dogs in WWI

When the First World War broke out in 1914, the German army had 6,000 trained dogs. The British had one, an Airedale Terrier. In fact, Britain was alone amongst the great powers in not having a military dogs programme. But now, as you can see, things have changed a little, haven't they Marley? Today, Britain leads the way. At the Defence Animal Centre in Melton Mowbray, I'm about to see some of the most sophisticated training techniques in the world for the deployment of military dogs and their handlers. Just check out Stigun searching for a tiny piece of explosive material. This dog is trained to focus, really focus. You could land a helicopter next to him and he wouldn't budge. That's impressive. This is what the military call a Hasdie, a high assurance search dog. It's trained to spot any kind of peculiarity on the ground that might be a threat and he's now going to stay there staring at that no matter what I say. Yo, do you want a sausage? Let's go. Walkies. Meet Sparky and Onyx. You know, it's weird that Britain was so far behind the game when it came to dogs in World War One. Especially given our reputation as a nation of dog lovers. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe we love them too much. The reason things changed was largely down to the vision of one man, Lieutenant Colonel E.H. Richardson. He was convinced of the contribution dogs could make in combat and lobbied the military top brass to take the idea seriously. And while they deliberated, warring nations such as Italy were using dogs to carry munitions across treacherous alpine terrain. Richardson was sure that dogs could solve the communications problem on the Western Front where phone lines were often down and runners were easy targets. Finally, on the 31st of December 1916, two dogs trained by Richardson were sent to run messengers on the Western Front. Their success in navigating across shell holes and muddy fields led to a request to set up the British War Dog School to provide more canine support. The modern British military dog was born. The training program was led by Mrs. Richardson and lasted around five weeks before the animals were sent for duty. Today, dogs like Quinn are trained for around 12 months until they're ready for action. The advent of modern communications meant that dogs as messengers sort of became obsolete. But there was still one key military task that dogs could perform and that was search. Today, the forces have to search planes, vehicles, houses. And what this exercise here is doing is deploying that canine strength, a sense of smell. Quinn is trained to filter out competing and confusing scents so he can home in on the most important. What's in there? A target scent we wanted him to find, which is explosives. Over the years, the military has fine-tuned exactly what it wants from its dogs. It comes down to two broad areas. There's the search and detection work, and then there's protection. Throughout history, armies have sought to take advantage of the aggression and muscle power of certain breeds of dog. The Romas, for example, trained up dogs to take on swordsmen. Today, there's few patrols out there that don't value having a dog like this with them. Believe me, getting a dog, even one that's been put through some of the best training in the world, to follow commands is never simple. Good girl. Back in World War I, because dog handling was in its infancy, the British soldiers were basically making it up as they went along. Today, of course, that's completely different. It's a fine art and the training for guys like Mikey, dog handlers, is as comprehensive and intensive as it is for the dogs. But do you reckon I can give it a go, Mikey? It's easy as shelling peas. Right. There's your dog. Thank you. So I'm sending it off to a target somewhere in this field. I know where the target is. The dog, Onyx, doesn't. At the moment, it's facing the wrong way. Onyx, go on this way. Right. Back. It's not going where I want it to go. Sit! I'm not sure I'm cut out for this. OK, Mikey. Yeah? You tell the dog where to go. Well done. Let's see how it's done. Honey? Yep, exactly where I want it to go. Back in World War I, as the use of dogs developed and they proved their worth on the battlefields, so did the level of care for their well-being, with kennels being provided behind the front line. The relationship between handler and dog is as vital now as it was in World War I. And while the specialist role of military dogs has developed hugely since they were introduced in World War I, some elements have remained unchanged. One of those is morale. Soldiers love having a dog in the ranks.