The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1922-10-18
DOGS PLAYED IMPORTANT
PART in WAR;: INSPIRED !.
DEEP PUBLIC INTEREST
aIaSfi u lfdSEEErpin Page

NaSN EASe =
just as fast and as+fullyS as his mind
Fcanstake, up his teachings. 'Fhe most
htefestihg part of their training is
the fact as persons are good at some
kind Of work and useless at others,
80 it is with the dog. Each dog, or
more often each breed, has his spec
'~alty, and these specialtieszare devel-
oped. But there is one thing they
ire all taught in camp at the very
start, and that is never to bark ex-
,ept at command or at some speci-
fled point in their work. One can
readily see some of the reasons for
th;1 training: The one most inn
oortant to me was the fact that the
bark of the dog has the power to
penetrate farther through the air
shan, any other natural sound. Ten
men shouting at the top of their
lungs can make much more noise than
does one dog barking, but that one
dogs bark will penetrate farther than
will those ten shouts. This has been
proved. Balloonists say that the
'ound Of a. dogs bark will reach
then1 in the upper air after all other
earth noises have died away. So Of
coures an enemy aviator, sailing with
the engines turned off at night,
would know from the bark of dog
just exactly where to drop his bombs.
Aside from all being taught not to
bark except at command, all must
learn absolute obedience and lack
Of gunshyness, and the wearing OF
the gas mask. Then as to special
line of talent, work that required
dash and brilliancy, courage and mad
speed, courier duty in particular was
assigned as a rule to ,collles. No
other dog except the greyhound can.
out-run the collie. The dog dispatch
bearer is three times as efficient as
man, for in three minutes it will
deliver to headquarters the message,
whereas. a man courier would re-
quire ten minutes to make the trip.
-"For Red Cross work and guarding
and sentry-go and such tasks, the
Airedale stood supreme. A one-man
dog, grimly fearless, aggressive and
quick-witted is the Airedale.
~ 'The Terriers, for the most part,
were trained to scientific rat hunt
ing They. were the dogs destined
to keep the trenches clear Of rats
and Of such other pests as sWarmed
to the torment of the soldiers.
@The Old English sheep dog once
has been taught thing, it becomes
as much as a part of him as does
eating and sleeping. He never for
gets it. >-', " .
$50 it was that Haig and PERISH
ing were set to ambulance work.
They, were taught to wear big ak
wardly Hopping saddles, night and
day, until they became so used: to
them that they no longer tired them.
Blank cartridges and harmless bombs
were continually used until they were
no longer scared at them, or even in
terested i'm them din. They were
taught to cling onto swaying and
jolting seats, at the tops of gallop-
ing ambulances, and to stick to their
perches until it was no longer an
effort to do so. They soon knew
how to find man lying hidden in
the grass far from camp. When they
were fit to go to the front, here is
what Haig and Pershing had learned
to do. To wear the saddle with it's
seven full pockets, one containing
writing tablet and pencil, the other.
six fitted with first-aid kit, food and
so on, to ride on the fastest ambu-
lances over the toughest ground to
the battle field, to scour the field
for dead or wounded after the bat
tie, to relieve the wounded and to
bring them help. Their method of
dealing with the wounded was per-
fectly wonderful to me, but they