The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1893-12-30
DOGS OF WAR.
The Well-Tralned Animals Used In the
Austrian Army.

DOGS OF WAR.
The Well-Tralned Animals Used In the
Austrian Army.
Some eighty miles west of Vienna the
little market town of Wells nestles in
the foothills of the Austrian Alps,
which here rise in bold cliffs from the
banks of the Traun.
The forests of the neighborhood are
too open to harbor much game, but a
stranger stopping at the summer hotel
of the little town might easily be led
to believe that the citizens must be the
most indefatigable hunters of the Aus
ero-Hungarian Empire. From morn
ing till night and sometimes till long
after dark, he may hear the echo of
shots and the barking and bowling Of
dogs approaching the town or dying
away in the distant hills, and occasion
ally answered from far and near, as if
all the sportsmen of the northern Alps
had met in convention.
For this is one of the stations where
Kriegs-hunde-war dogs-are trained.
The plan of training dogs for mill
tary purposes was first adopted by the
French garrisons in Algiers, but has
since been tried with great success in
Prussia, Italy and especially in Austria,
where four-footed messengers have for
many years been taught to carry let
ters to the snow-bound villages of the
Alpine highlands. The shaggy collies
used for that purpose make the best
war-dogs, and can be trained to race in
a bee-line to the next military post and
announce their arrival by peculiar
bark that is at once recognized and
answered by the shout of a sentry.
They will also range a long chain of
hills in quest of wounded soldiers, and
either dash back to report their discov-
cries, or stand guard at the side of the
cripple till an ambulance party comes
near enough to be signalled by long
drawn howl.
Trainers send out three or four of
their shaggy pupils at once, and ascer-
tain their proficiency by all sorts of
ingenious tests Soldiers instructed to
act the part of helpless cripples will
hide in thiclkets or caverns and keep
still till the dog tugs at their sleeves,
when they will sit up and reward his
sagacity with piece of sausage.
They then try to rise, but pretend to
be too weak to walk, or even to shout,
and ask the dog to call for assistance.
If help is near, Collie will set up loud
howl, repeated at shorter and shorter
intervals, till the signal is answered
from the valley below. If his appeals
should remain UNDECIDED, he will mount
the next rock and look about as if to
impress the lay of the land on his mind,
and then dash of to summon help from
headquarters.
Should two cripples intimate their
need of aid at the same time Collie
will guide the rescuing party to the
hiding place of the one farthest away,
and help them to pick up, or somehow
assist, the other man on their way
home.
Messenger dogs carry letters in
small bag wrapped around their collar,
and win permit only the proper officials
to touch that collar. A non-commis-
stoned officer, displaying the insignia
of his rank, may venture to remove the
bag, but the dog will follow him and
see to it that he gets him an answer.
Private soldiers are stood off, with
q menacing growl. Persons wearing
the uniform of the enemy cannot stop
the messenger with anything but an
extremely well-aimed shot. Dogs racing
along the battlefront will dodge bull
let's by running zigzag, and develop .
marvellous talent for taking advantage
of every cover, running through the
highest grass or along the safe side of
rocks and fallen trees
Picket-post dogs are selected from q
different breed. The half-shepherd,
half-wolf dogs that carry letters and
hunt up cripples are not entirely de-
void Of scent, and can find their way
back home in manner not wholly ex-
plicable on the theory of keen eyesight.
But for efficiency in the role of sentries
they yield the palm to a species of deer
hounds that do their best work after
dark.
On picket duty, well-trained senti- |
mel of that breed will scent the ap-
proach of a troop of cavalry, before q |
man, with his ear on the ground, can
hear the trampling of the horses. The
dog sentry win announce his discovery |
in more discreet way than the Scotch |
widow who screamed through the cita-
del of Lucknow when her elmer ear
heard the approaching bagpipes of the
McGregors. Phylax, on seeming dam
ger, will step up close to his uniformed |
companion, and after pause of silence
and keen attention will announce his
by low growls, getting more
frequent. rather than louder. as the
cause for alarm becomes more unmis-
The best dogs of that breed have
challenged" cavalry from distance
Of three to Ave miles, according to the
direction Of the wind, and infantry
from nearly two miles They can be
trained to announce the approach of q
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