Al Brittain » Marines

Labrador Retrievers In Combat As IED Detector Dogs

Al — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:56:01 +0000

One of the best Military Working Dog articles I’ve seen is in the Marine Corps Times today, and this one’s about a very specific subset of MWDs – Labrador Retrievers who are trained to work off leash as Improvised Explosive Device Detector Dogs.

“Dogs becoming essential in fight against IEDs”

Doesn’t pull any punches in describing how dangerous a job this is or how tough life can be for these dogs, but also gives you a real look at how much their handlers love the dogs and the relationship they have.

I know there are people who have real qualms about dogs doing these jobs (hey, it even gets to me sometimes), and I also think a number of people have a misperception about how the vast majority of handlers treat them, thanks to some bad stories about a few of the proverbial bad apples in the press.

But if you’ve met any military or police handlers – and I’ve met a number over the years – you know that by far most of them would take a bullet for their dogs. In this case specifically, you can bet that they will use the dogs as trained, but also do absolutely everything they can to keep them from getting blown up in the process.

The one sentence in the story that did surprise me was this – of course, I knew the dogs were out there, but had no idea their presence was this widespread:

“For the first time this year, most infantry battalions deploying to war zones have the dogs…”

Make no mistake – that doesn’t tell you how expendable the dogs are, but exactly the opposite – they’ve become so important, it’s gotten to where the Marine Corps doesn’t want to put Marines in the field without them.

“The Marines Wanted a Manly Dog”

Al — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:00:13 +0000

Pfc. James Burns plays with service dog Finn at the Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Detachment, Camp Kaneohe, Hawaii.

Hey, how about something a lot more fun and upbeat than yesterday’s depressing post about the VA (one of these days I hope to be able to write about them and have a good feeling instead of the bad one I always get now).

That quote in the subject line of this post cracked me up when I read it yesterday. It’s from Susan Luehrs, executive director of Hawaii Fi-Do, the Assistance Dogs International-accredited organization that just placed a service dog at United States Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Detachment-Hawaii.

She was explaining why they went with a big yellow Labrador Retriever like Finn instead of their usual labradoodles:

“Hawaii Fi-Do works mostly with labradoodles, a cross between a Labrador and a poodle, but the Marines wanted a manly dog, she said.”

As the proud human of one of those “manly dogs”, all I can say is “Ooh-RAH!!” No frou-frou designer dogs for the Marines (apologies to all you labradoodle lovers…haha) – gotta love it!

Whole story is here:

“Canine reports for duty at Kane’ohe base”

(FYI, Canine Companions for Independence placed Facility Dog Jonah at the parent organization for this unit, the Wounded Warrior Battalion-West at Camp Pendleton, back in November 2008.)

Marines Love Service Dogs!

Al — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:22:40 +0000

Check out this fantastic picture of a Marine two-star CCI puppy raiser and puppy (click on the picture for the giant version):

OK, I’m lying about the puppy raiser part, but the picture is very real.

That’s MGen(sel) Mike Regner, the Legislative Assistant to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, visiting with Bogie, a Canine Companions for Independence assistance dog in training, at a recent function in DC. You can read Gen Regner’s full biography here:

http://www.marines.mil/units/hqmc/cmclegalasst/Pages/home.aspx

Bogie is being raised by Cyndi Perry, long-time CCI volunteer and puppy raiser (this is puppy number 7 or 8 for her – I always forget which) in the DC area. Cyndi also took this wonderful picture – HUGE thanks to Gen Regner and Cyndi for allowing me to use it.

Hey, all this old retired Air Force Chief can say is “OO-RAH!”