Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1916-05-05
DOGS USED FOR
MANY PURPOSES
BY FRENCH ARMY
Hunting Animals Not Much Ac-
count in War; Many Fan
tastic Stories Told Of Intel
Iigence of CANNES,


/ Paris, April 22.-Hunting dogs
make poor war dogs, according to one
of the specialists who has been train
| ing these animals at the front. An
other development of the experience
of year and half Is that the female
| is superior to the male.
The French war dogs are now di-
vided into five classes; one dog sem
tinels; two. patrol dogs; three, dis
patch bearers; four, ambulance dogs;
five, draught dogs.
For all but the draught dogs French
breeds are now preferred. They are
mostly recruited from the region of
the Beauce, good rustic shepherds
that know all the secrets of the
ground, and mountain dogs from the
| Pyrenees, used to roughing it over
difficult country These breeds are
about the only ones that continue eff
fective through all the transforma-
tons that the first line of defense un-
dergoes. To get the most out Of them
! ii Is necessary to specialize them, the
all round war dog existing only in the
Imagination.
i Stories have been told of dogs that
| bark into phone and to ring bells or
have been taught to growl signals at
the approach of a cloud of suffocating
gas. What the dog has really learned
to do is sufficient without attributing
| to him fantastic attachments.
/ Messages Carried Long Distances.
Dogs have carried messages be-
tween posts three miles apart arriv-
ing infallibly at their destinations and
returning to the point of departure,
fearless of shells and deaf to any APP
peas made to them en- route. Not
even the frequent upheaval of the
ground over which they have once
passed and the confessions of trails
can put them off their course.
ITO reach thiss degree of perfec-
| ton" avs the trainer, zone must take
the greatest care to avoid even the
appearance of brutality toward the
pupil; the dog must never be fright
ened while he is learning his duties.
The ambulance dog must seek, rather
| than trail, the wounded man and the
regulations governing their use have
been found to be deficient as their
development has proceeded. The rules
prescribe, for instance, that the dog
must he taught to bring back the cap
! of the wounded man he has found.
| Wounded men, however. in great
many instances no longer have any
| cap when they are discovered; they
may have u helmet with the jugular
under the chin so that the dog cannot
get il off The intelligent dog, for
! tunately, when he has finished the
training period understands what is
wanted Of him and that the bringing
in Of cap is only detail; In the alb
sence Of the regulation cap he seeks
anything else belonging to the man
he has found.
Methods of Training.
"The most approved method OF
training now is summed up in the
words, Fetch! Fetch and seek wound
ed Seek wounded and fetehl' At the
end of three months of training in
this order the dog understands what
he is to look for and that he is to
make his master understand that he
/ has found someone, whether it be by
an object brought back in his mouth
or by any other manifestation that
his Intelligence suggests. Some times
they bring In q tobacco pouch, cigar
! lighter, anything they find in a man
| pocket in default of cap or hand
kerchief.
another mistake in the regula-
tions was the requirement that the
dog be trained to return to his mas
! ter In straight line, The good
searcher operates in zig-zag course
and it IL natural for him to get back
| by the same route.
The efficiency of the dog sentinel
was Illustrated by an accident at an
important point on the front where
one of these animals suddenly began
trotting obliquely toward the right
and making signs that there was
present in that direction something
that was foreign to the trench
There is something going on yon-
der said his conductor.
your mongrel is dreaming" re-
piled a soldier. I'VE have a sharp
lookout there there's nothing"
'"rhere must be a patrol leaving the
trench over there, or going back
Nothing at all" insisted the look
out.
There's something over there, just
the same; perhaps its listening post
dug is toward our lines"
The officer commanding the sec
ton being notified, ordered the firing
OF three Illuminating fumes and in the
glare three blond German heads were
seen over the parapet Of an advanced
trench.
That's capital, exclaimed the Of
ficer, That dog has discovered in |
an instant listening post that we
have been looking for these two
months"
luNNlkN NANO tn pr |