Maria Goodavage - Soldier Dogs

By the time I get to the bottom, Lars is trotting past officers in quiet meetings and crew members who point and laugh and follow. He is a scruffy pied piper, gathering submariners as he moves jauntily through the sub. Once in the berthing area, Frost and Lars get to work.

Frost, seemingly unfazed by the amusement of his audience, lifts his partner from one stripped bunk to the next. Lars’s nose checks three levels of bunks, plus floor and ceiling. Sometimes Lars shows interest, and Frost releases him and lets him sniff around a bunk on a long leather leash. A few minutes into the exercise, Lars scrambles from Frost’s hands and onto a top bunk. He makes a beeline up the gray-and-white striped mattress to the pillow. After a quick sniff of the pillow, he sits and looks expectantly at Frost. He has found his quarry, an explosive (sans detonator) under a pillow. The onlookers cheer and applaud.

Frost hurls out an enthusiastic and high-pitched, “Good boy, Lars!” and throws a yellow squeaky ball to the top berth. Lars catches it and the tiny quarters fill with squeak squeak as he wags and bites his prize. Down the passageway at their meeting, the officers have to wonder what is going on.

We make our way back to the ladder, and when I next see Lars, he is on the dock, being laughed at by a whole new group of sailors. Frost takes it in stride. “Goes with the territory,” he says and shrugs. Lars jumps his front paws up on Frost’s leg, wags, and stares at him. Frost leans down and scratches Lars behind the ears. “You’re a good boyyyy,” he says in a hushed tone. Frost may not admit it in public, but it’s clear that Lars, small as he is, is growing on him.

Even Lars had to pass a buy team’s muster once upon a time. In order to be considered for any MWD job, dogs undergo careful scrutiny.

The dogs being screened must be between twelve and thirty-six months old (the older ones generally have more training) and need to be in excellent health, with no acute or chronic conditions that would be costly to treat. In addition, buyers evaluate behavior, temperament, and trainability. If anything’s amiss, it’s the equivalent of a human draftee’s flat feet or color blindness.

The testing takes place outdoors and indoors. Indoors is not posh: Depending on the location, it can be a barn, garage, or even a large tent. There needs to be some furniture, like drawers and old couches, but otherwise it’s pretty bare bones.

Since no matter how healthy a dog is or how good he is at basics like being interested in a ball or performing a good bite, if a military working dog is skittish and balky from the get-go, he won’t fare well in the dog program. Bombs and ammo and thin nerves don’t mix, so the first tests given are preliminary environmental stability tests.

Here’s the official Department of Defense standard, from the Statement of Work: Potential Military Working Dogs, 341st Training Squadron :

Testing of the potential detector dog begins with introducing the dog to a complex environment while walked on leash by a DOD handler. Ideally, this environment is unfamiliar to the dog and features a number of intense stimuli that can be used to test the animal’s environmental stability, or “boldness.” Stimuli of interest include tight spaces such as closets and cabinets, slick floors, elevated footing, obstacles, stairs, noisy and startling objects, and groups of people. Any and all such stimuli may be used at the Evaluators’ discretion to assess the stability and “boldness” of dogs presented to DOD for possible purchase. The dog will not be played with or stimulated with a reward object (e.g., Kong or ball) during this testing. To be eligible for DOD purchase, the dog shall behave boldly and fearlessly. If the animal is momentarily fearful, it may still be considered for purchase if it recovers quickly and if it displays sufficient willingness to confront stressful stimuli when coaxed. DOD will not accept dogs that are consistently or severely fearful or shy or retiring; that are noise-sensitive; that are strongly aggressive to handlers or bystanders and other neutral parties; or that refuse to negotiate obstacles such as stairs or slick floors.

It doesn’t sound like it would be too hard to find dogs who fit the bill. Jake would pass this part of the test without a problem. This ninety-pound mellow yellow Lab has nerves of steel. He sleeps through earthquakes, will walk or run on any surface (especially if there’s something delectable to eat or to roll on as a goal), and has never flinched during the very loud fireworks people set off on our nearby beach for the Fourth of July and the Lunar New Year.

The only thing he’s ever been scared of is the Golden Gate Bridge. The vibrations made him pull away once when we were in full tourist mode with some visiting friends. But as soon as I brought out some dog treats, he forgot all about the fact that he was vibrating more than two hundred feet above the cold, unforgiving ocean waters and marched on like the brave and always-hungry soldier he is.

Jake—Passes the environmental stability test with ease.

Medical evaluations come later on the test day, with vet techs drawing blood from candidates who are temperamentally suited to the job, and vets examining the dogs, and sometimes even anesthetizing an occasional dog in order to take X-rays of the hips, elbows, and lumbar spine. (X-rays happen only after a dog has passed all behavioral testing.) Dysplasia and other structural abnormalities have done in many a military working dog, so even though vendors have often already submitted radiographs, vets may want to do their own. Besides a thorough medical check, dogs who will be doing patrol work need to have good teeth and jaws, with all four canine teeth present and in excellent condition. The better to bite bad guys with …

Jake may or may not have passed the physical evaluation. He has no major health issues at all, but he has always been the owner of a set of funky hips. Shortly after we adopted him at six months old, we noticed that he ran like a sack of potatoes whenever at the beach or Golden Gate Park. We eventually had him X-rayed and were told he might have hip issues down the road. We’re nine years down that road, and it’s been an adventure filled with running and jumping and living life to the fullest. So far, he’s OK. So for argument’s sake, we’ll say Jake would pass the medical portion of the test.

Jake—Passes the physical, but will need his hips reexamined quickly if anything becomes a problem.

Next up on test day, all dogs get evaluated for drive in retrieving and detection. For dual-purpose dogs, the team will also look for drive and competence and confidence in biting. It’s now time for dogs to have a ball—and an arm or leg, for dogs who will be patrolling. We’ll move inside the big, drafty barn for this portion.

Most dogs have been taught by breeders to covet a ball or a Kong toy. The majority of dogs have come to love their Kong, even if they weren’t born with a natural drive to obsess over it. Breeders work to boost interest in dogs who would rather just sit outside and stare at butterflies. The reason this is important is because it’s the rubber Kong toy that most trainers and handlers will use as a reward, and in order for a dog to want to do various tasks, he’s going to want to know there’s pay at the end. Pay for a military working dog is a Kong or a ball, or anything the handler lets him bite. And of course, great praise from the handler.