The training of intelligent animals like these is carried on in five
different ways, for various uses.
1.--_As Ambulance Dogs._ The animal seeks for wounded men lost on
the battlefield; he searches in holes, ruins, and excavations, and
hunts over wooded places or coverts, where the wounded man might
lie unnoticed by his comrades or the stretcher-bearer. The dog is
especially useful at this work in the night-time, when he can often by
his scent discover fallen men who would otherwise be passed over, for
at night-time ambulance-men often have to work in the dark, as lights
would attract the enemy's fire. Having found a wounded man still alive,
the dog brings his master (or the ambulance-man to whom he is attached)
some article belonging to the sufferer. This object tells the master,
"I have found someone--search!" Usually the object brought is the
fallen man's _képi_ (or nowadays his helmet), and the trainers teach
the dog to find the man's headgear, but if this is missing some other
object must be brought. It is a fatiguing operation for the animal, as
he has to return with closed mouth. The ambulance-man who receives the
article at once puts the animal on a leash, and is immediately led to
his wounded comrade. The leash is about two yards long, so that the
movements of the animal shall be hindered as little as possible.
If dogs were utilized in this service long during wartime, their value
would be incalculable; and their use is all the greater when fighting
takes place over an extended area. The situation of the wounded man
overlooked or abandoned on the battlefield is a truly horrible one; he
has to wait in the forlorn hope that he will be found, for the army
has gone on, and the more victorious it is the farther it will push
ahead. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1 more than twelve thousand
men were thus lost to the French alone, while in the Russo-Japanese
War the Japanese lost over five thousand in this manner, showing that
the methods then used for the exploration of the battlefields were
inadequate. In that war three dogs sent by a military dog society found
twenty-three wounded men who had been abandoned after the battle of
Cha-ho. In the Boer War the collie dogs taken out by the men, it is
said, saved hundreds of wounded men who would never have been found by
the ambulance-workers in the difficult country where fighting mostly
took place.
2.--_As Trench Dogs or Sentinels._ The sentry or trench dog is trained
to stay in the trench itself or in a small "listening-post" made for
him, either on the edge of the trench, outside it, or at a little
distance away. There he remains on the _qui vive_, ready to signal the
least suspicion of a noise or the presence of the enemy. In this work
both his eyes and his scent help him. He is kept on the leash, and he
gives the signal of danger by a slight growl, without barking, which
would give the alarm. The greatest difficulty in the training of dogs
for this work has been to rid them of the habit of barking, but this
has been overcome with care and patience. The training of dogs for this
class of work can be--and has been--carried to great lengths. A man
crawling on patrol work can take a dog with him, also in a crouching
position, on a leash. A little tug at the leash causes the dog to rise,
to retire, or to change its direction, and a properly-trained animal
will answer to the leash as satisfactorily as a horse does to the
reins. Such a dog is of immense help at night, when he can be taken
quite close to the enemy.
3.--_As Patrols or Scouts._ The dog accompanies the human scout in his
reconnaissance, and helps in finding advance posts or sentinels, and
locating small groups of the enemy.
4.--_As Couriers or Messengers._ The animal acts as a messenger,
carrying written orders or information, and is used according to
circumstances. He can carry messages between groups in the rear and
fighting formations in the front--for example, between the artillery
and the infantry, and _vice versa_; between two fighting forces,
such as battalions, companies, or sections; between the headquarters
and the various positions of the army; or between the main body and
detached posts, such as patrols, scouts, etc. Taken along by a patrol
or scouting party, he can be sent back to the main body with a message
fixed to his collar. The note having been removed and read, a reply can
be attached to his collar, and the dog sent back to the original body
of men, even if they have changed their position, since he finds them
again by his scent. A dog is not only much quicker in carrying these
messages than a man, and can cover ground where no cycle could go, but
he also has an advantage in being almost invisible to the enemy. If on
a leash, he can conduct a man in charge of reinforcements or ammunition
to the new position of the patrolling party--sometimes over a distance
of several miles.
5.--_As Dogs of Communication._ This is the most difficult task to
which military dogs are put, and requires very special qualities, so
that only a very few animals have been found capable of the work. It
consists in sending him after a patrol _en route_ with a message, or
even in finding a lost patrol or scouting party and bringing it back to
its base. It will readily be understood that an exceptional scent is
required in a dog to do work of this sort.
In the two last-named classes of work dogs can pass swiftly backwards
and forwards through brisk firing and run much less risk than a man.