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By Lisa Rogak
The vast majority of military working dogs begin training at Lackland Air Force Base. The 341st Training Squadron there describes as its mission “to provide trained Military Working Dogs, handlers and trainers and kennel masters for the Department of Defense and other government agencies and allies through training, logistical support, veterinary support, a breeding program and research and development for security efforts worldwide.”
Lackland currently contains 90 training areas and laboratories spread across 400 acres, with 691 kennel spaces, averaging about 800 dogs in residence at any one time. Over 125 Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force personnel train both dogs and handlers for all branches of the military as well as for the other federal agencies.
Lackland launched a breeding program in 2005. The only breed in the program is the Belgian Malinois, a shepherd dog that the American Kennel Club describes as “an alert, high-energy breed, popular as both a police and military working dog. Although sometimes mistaken for the German Shepherd Dog, the Malinois is more elegant in build and lighter-boned, but does not lack for strength, agility or herding ability. Intelligent and trainable, the Belgian Malinois possesses a strong desire to work and is happiest with regular activity and a job to do. A relatively easy keeper due to their medium size and short coat, this confident breed loves their families, but may be somewhat reserved with strangers. They are naturally protective of their owners without being overly aggressive.”
“The Belgian Malinois is typically a high-drive dog,” said Sergeant Brandon Hiller, a handler with the 92nd Military Police Company who works with an explosive-detection dog named Chyan, an eleven-year-old Belgian Malinois. “For example, when they do aggression they are anxious to attack. Their whole body will be shaky and they’ll start breathing really hard. They never want to give up when they bite.”
The puppies from the unit’s breeding program are tested just a few days after birth, when trainers and handlers help decide if they have what it takes to be all that they can be. Older dogs—up to a year old, that is—first land at the Texas facility from outside breeders to enter basic training before proceeding to more advanced lessons if they pass all the tests. With the puppies, a team of puppy development specialists, attentive foster parents, and astute trainers all work together to continue the analysis and training.
All dogs that come out of the breeding program come with names where the first letter is doubled in order to mark a dog that comes from Lackland. For instance, Rrespect or Oopie. For the puppy’s first two weeks of life, his reflexes and neurological responses are closely studied. At the same time, these tests, known as biosensor exercises, place the puppy on a fast track by jump-starting their canine neurological system with activities and physical tests that specialists believe will improve cardiovascular performance and increase immunity to disease and stress over the long run.
“We’re looking to find out what stresses the puppies and evaluate their responses,” said Tracy Shaw, the breeding program contract manager at Lackland. “You introduce the stress, and the body recognizes it as conditioning.”
The tests include several brief exercises to test a puppy’s resistance to—and acceptance of—uncomfortable sensations. First, the puppy is tickled between the toes with a Q-tip. Next up, some puppy gymnastics as a trainer holds the puppy vertically with his head up, then reverses the position so the puppy’s head points at the floor. Then the trainer holds the puppy in both hands on his back and sets him on a damp, cool towel.
Lynnette Butler, a consultant with the breeding program, said that this is “a personality test in preparation to place these puppies with their foster homes. The first thing we do at this stage is social attraction. We test whether the puppy is willing to come to you or not. We generally like a puppy that’s willing to come to you readily with its tail up.”
Of course, the foster families are also tested. They have to live no more than two hours away from Lackland so they can bring the puppies to the base each month for medical exams and hiking trips with their fostered siblings. Foster parents must also have a good-sized backyard that’s fenced around the entire perimeter, and they’re not allowed into the program if they have kids younger than four years old or already have more than three dogs of their own.
In 2009, Lackland launched an experiment where a unit at the base took over fostering one of the puppies in the program, which meant that everyone in the section was involved. It also meant that responsibilities for caring for Aamee, the four-month-old Belgian Malinois, were shared among numerous people both at the office and at their homes. In all, the puppy rotated among three different foster parents who work with the 37th Force Support Squadron at the base, which worked out well, since fostering a high-energy puppy can be intense and exhausting.
“Being able to take a break works out better for everybody, especially for the dog,” said Master Sergeant Jason Hohenstreiter, Readiness NCO. “Then the dog is getting all the attention it needs and is not becoming a burden.”
“But we definitely have to communicate more,” said flight chief Sharon Witter. “You can’t just leave her alone.”
“We’re trying to prepare the dog for training,” added Hohenstreiter. “We’re getting it ready for school, almost like pre-kindergarten. We want to help them develop the skills that are going to help them succeed.”
Like other foster families, all three foster parents bring Aamee on business appointments and social outings, and out for exercise. It’s safe to say that with three foster families, the puppy gets much more social stimulation than it would have with only one family. And since she’s so much more out and about, in turn more people see her. “The puppy draws a crowd,” says Witter. “The more visibility we provide her, the more people see her and the more people understand the program and ask about it.”
New tests are administered as the dogs get older, and many resemble those of basic obedience training. A trainer places a few pieces of kibble in a darkened cardboard box and watches how Rrespect uses her scent to find the treat. This test evaluates a puppy’s eagerness to enter an unfamiliar environment with the promise of a food reward. For some dogs, their drive is highest when food is presented as a reward, while for others it’s a toy.
“The first time I put a toy on the floor, I was amazed at the energy she went at this toy with,” said Sarah Dietrich, Rrespect’s foster mom. “Twenty minutes later, she looked up at me, but during the whole time, all she could think about was that toy. She parades around the house all the time with her toys. It’s called practicing possession.”
Catherine Schiltz is a human remains detection handler who trains with a Labrador retriever named Gabe. “When handlers choose dogs for this job, they look for dogs that have a really high toy drive, because wanting the toy is going to make them want to find things, as well as being easier to train because they want something,” she said. “These dogs are very self-serving. As long as you reward them for the job that they do, they will do their very best in getting the job done.”
Dietrich and her husband, Navy Petty Officer Second Class Jason Dietrich, previously fostered two other puppies from the breeding program, and the experience is never boring. “I’m either laughing my head off or having a headache every minute with her,” she said. “There is no in-between.” After six months, however, the fostering ends and the dogs return to Lackland for what basically amounts to high school for the military working dog.
Saying good-bye is often bittersweet. “Sometimes it’s like sending off a hyper child to day camp,” Dietrich said. “Other times, it’s really heartbreaking. But you know they’re going to be doing what they love. You know they’re going off to do something they’re going to really enjoy. You want them to succeed, and you’re excited to see what they’re going to do with their lives. You’re raising a little soldier, and it’s your way to support the military.
“I like to think of her like a smart child,” Dietrich added. “A smart child’s not going to be happy to sit at the computer all day. These dogs are the smart children, and they want to explore every corner of everything. You can see her future in her.”
Dogs enter Lackland’s “canine high school” when they’re around seven months old, which coincides with when the dog is emerging from adolescence. ”We want to train them when they’re at their most ‘moldable’ point,” said Gerry Proctor.
First up is a standard obedience course, which is not much different from those taught to civilians. “Obedience is the foundation on which everything else is built,” said Air Force Senior Airman Erin Sims, a canine handler from Robins Air Force Base. “If you don’t have obedience, you don’t have anything else.”
The Army’s official Field Manual on Military Working Dogs describes the obedience:
The obedience course exposes the dog to various obstacles that simulate walls, open windows, tunnels, ramps, or steps. The dog’s exposure to these obstacles reduces the amount of time required to adapt dogs to different environments. The dog learns to negotiate each of the obstacles. The obedience course is not a substitute for exercise. A dog should never be required to negotiate the obedience course until he has been warmed up by proper exercise.
“Once they get their basic tasks accomplished, they come to us at the units, which is like their advanced individual training,” said Patrick Spivey. “Right now, Bodro is like that new private who just got out of training, and I am trying to teach him, ‘This is how you really do it.’ ”
After obedience training is over, it’s time for more specialized training, which includes controlled aggressiveness, attack, and searching buildings and open areas. Again, from the official Field Manual:
During this phase, a dog is taught to ride quietly in the patrol vehicles without exhibiting hostility toward other people or dogs; to find a suspect or hostile person in a building or open area; to attack, without command, someone who is attacking its handler; to cease an attack upon command at any point after an attack command has been given; and other tasks.
Advanced training is also what separates civilian dog training from the specific skills that the military requires. “Dogs who make it in the military working dogs are trained to overcome typical dog behavior,” said Joel Townsend. “For instance, when passing by the entry to a dark building, most dogs will tuck their tail and turn away. A military dog is trained to enter that building, as the handler’s eyes and ears, to recon and alert his partner to whatever is inside.”
All dogs are trained at patrol responsibilities. During advanced training, each dog is evaluated to determine if he excels at detecting either drugs or explosives. Once a decision is made, off he goes for even more intensive training in his specialty.
Excerpted from The Dogs of War: The Courage, Love, and Loyalty of Military Working Dogs by Lisa Rogak.
Copyright © 2011 by Lisa Rogak.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
All rights reserved. This work is protected under copyright laws and reproduction is strictly prohibited. Permission to reproduce the material in any manner or medium must be secured from the Publisher.
LISA ROGAK is the author of the Edgar-and Anthony-nominated Haunted Heart: The Life and Times of Stephen King and editor of the New York Times bestselling Barack Obama in His Own Words. Her son serves in the United States Army, Delta Company of the 489th Civil Affairs Battalion.