The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-07-04
HOW DOGS OF WAR
HELPED IN DAYS OF PEACE

Many and, indeed, various were the
devices employed by Uncle Samuel
for awakening an ever keener sense
of gratitude in the hearts of all
Americans for what had been done
for them in the late war, and the
need, therefore, of their opening their
purses and buying bonds in return.
Few, however, were anywhere nearly
SO successful as the exhibition of the
work of the famous Belgian trench
dogs, as given in various cities of the
United States.
Usually these demonstrations were
part of some larger demonstration.
At Cincinnati, where our picture was
taken, it concluded a program in hon
or of the awarding of the Croix de
Guerre; yet not one in the crowd but
invariably stayed to see the dog ex-
hibition, and then applauded for
more.
Sergeant Percher, who has charge
of the animals, was a student at col
lege when the war broke out, and was
designated to take command of the 40
CANNES attached to the 18th Company,
7th Regiment, of the Belgian Army.
people" he put it, when in Cincin-
natl, shave far and away more defects,
in my estimation than dogs!"
Then he went on to tell of his pack,
and explained: GAN my dogs have
seen hard service. All were 'gassed,'
for they wore no gas masks, the story
of their having such being purest fic-
ton. Five of my original pack of dogs
were killed in battle; three were
wounded. One of them, poor 'Rijarde',
had an eye shot out, but continued in
the war until the year before it's end,
when bomb from German airplane
killed him in his tracks!
"The dogs we used are Belgian mas
tiffs-powerful animals-and they
served well-perhaps better-than
steeds, to haul our small machine-guns
and carry food and ammunition to the
front lines. The dogs had, in fact,
many advantages over many horses
met!
"First of all, they were trained in
an actual dog camp. They were 81
lent and would not inadvertently dis
close their locations. They were low
of build offering a small target. They
could haul carts over all kinds of
roads, or no roads at all. Meet ditch
and the soldier could lift dog and cart
squarely over!
"The dogs, too, are very hardy and
live on nearly any kind of food. They
could be left in rain, cold, snow, with
out getting collie, or other illness.
When men and dogs were 'gassed', the
dogs suffered least; they sneezed,
eyes grew sore, but they never gave
up"
All in all, the troupe now consists
of ten dogs-eight males, two females.
The latter, Sarah and Khaki, were
born during the war and raised amid
shell-fire and cannonading. They
grew up in sufficient time, too, to
play splendid part in the war.
"The dogs" the Sergeant continued,
"are faithful, courageous, devoted,
good-natured. Latterly, unfortunate
iy, we had to muzzle one of them,
Baron; overwork and the excitement
of peaceful times in America unnerved
him and made him irritable.
GAIL the dogs, Max, Bambula, Turk
Trumpet; John and Voss and Baron,
kept warm in very coolest weather;
when the soldiers were half frozen in
the trenches and dugouts they put
their cold feet under the dogs to be
warmed. The dogs seemed to under
stand and to want to help them.
"Again let me emphasize" the Ser
geant closed, as the bands played for
the new procession's starting, "the
dogs-and ! speak from five years
close acquaintance ship with them,
have fewer defects of character than
most people I have known. They |
have just one great fault-intense |
jealousy; but as this is only reAec-