The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-09-18
DOGS OF WAR.
The Various Military Services CANNES Are
Taught to Perform.

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campment by sudden attack, the re-
verse is rarely the case, and never
when the Indians are in their villages.
This is due partly to the natural alert
ness of the red man, but more to the
presence of dogs in the Indians village.
Dogs swarm around an Indian village,
and, although they are the sorriest ours
Imaginable, they are excellent sentl-
nels, sure to detect the approach of a
stranger and give warning by yelps and
howls. This does not imply any special
acuteness on the part of the Indians,
since they keep the dogs for food, and
their sentinel duties are purely volun-
tary. But some civilized nations have
copied-not the Indians, of whom they
know nothing-the Greeks and Romans,
who used dogs as auxiliary soldiers, and
are training these faithful and intelli-
gent animals for purposes of war.
Being naturally willing and effect
i've servant, the dog learns his drilling
lesson so aptly that his education be-
comes a ma ter of pleasure to the train
ers The documentary principle is 50
teach the dog to hate foreign soldier,
and to do that a uniformed dummy is
set up, and the dog is taught to attack
it until the intelligent animal has in
bred in him deadly hatred for anyone
wearing similar uniform. Germany,
Austria, Russia and France are now al
at work training these dogs of war
The best dog for the purpose would
probably be the bulldog or savage blood
hound hut TO cf
qualities besides fighting ones into their
makeup to prove effective war dogs,
other breeds are generally preferred.
The Germans use their peculiar, ugly,
numbering bloodhounds for this pur-
pose, but the other nations are expert
menting with various other breeds
Settlers have been found good for senti-
mel duty, as also the fox terrier, and
the fox hounds have found much favor
for their trailing qualities; but crosses
with the st. Bernard and the mastiff
make splendid all-round war dogs.
Several of the breeds, however, are
used, each one having a special duty to
perform. Those with keen scent are
employed for trailing purposes: the
strong, savage ones are taught to at
tack sentinels on post, and to fight in
battle; the noble st. Bernards are
trained to go over the field of battle af
ter the fight and to rescue the wounded,
while the tleet-footed, sly and adroit
varieties are used for carrying dis
patches.
One of the interesting features of the
dog drills is that which teaches them
what to do after conflict. The proper
duty of the war dog then is to ac-
company the search party, and to range
over the fields to ascertain the where
abouts of the wounded and dying, and
then to conduct the relief party to them,
In the drill sham battles are fought, and
then the soldiers pretend to be killed or
wounded The dogs are trained to
single out the different ones needing
assistance, and to lead the surviving
members to their side.
For sentinel duty the war dogs have
been found of considerable use, but
they have to be thoroughly and persist
emily drilled before they are fitted for
this important position. One of the
first lessons they are taught is to pre-
serve absolute silence, and instead of
announcing the approach of an enemy
by furious barking, to intimate their
discoveries by low growls, or even by
gestures, which some of the highly bred
ones do The German dogs are taught
to distinguish the different uniforms so
well that they give the signal of alarm
on the approach of any one clothed in
foreign dress. The dogs sense of smell
is exquisite and his hearing is much
more delicate than that of man. and
sentry dogs are thus particularly useful
at night
The most difficult part of the training
is to make the war dogs good carriers
of messages. 1t is essential that they
should be able to carry the dispatches
as well by night as by day, and long,
patient training is required for this
work. After the dogs have once learned
the way between two points they can
always travel swiftly between them on
the darkest of nights. The German
war dogs used for messengers have
small collars around their neclls, and
to these strong packet-holders are at
tached, in which messages can be Sc
curely locked.
Another use for the dogs in war is to
carry ammunition to the soldiers in the
heat of the battle. Dogs are naturally
disnclined to stand fire, and the chief
difficulty to overcome is to make them
fearless and careless of the noise around.
Experiments have been made which
show that as soon as their propensity to
turn and run when the rifles begin to
crack is overcome, the work is COM
poratively easy to train them to run up
and down the line, stopping whenever
soldier calls for them, and then re
firing again to get a fresh supply of
ammunition.
1t is the natural vigilance of the dogs
which makes them desirable for war
purposes, and it is supposed that if each
sentinel has his dog, no sudden surprise
at night would be possible. In recon-
noissance the dogs run on in advance
and signal the presence of an enemy. no
matter where concealed, and generally
when he is at considerable distance
away. Dogs are to be used in the adj
vance of an army or regiment to pre-
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