WWI: Gone to the Dogs

Dogs, of course, played a significant role in World War I.

The Army used dogs for all sorts of jobs, mostly involving their superior tracking skills, keen eyes, alert hearing and adorable countenances.

At the start of the war, the British Army had only one sentry dog, but they quickly rectified the situation when they discovered how valuable dogs could be along the Western Front. They ultimately used, like the other European allied armies, upwards of 20,000 dogs.

Germany deployed more than 30,000 dogs, most notably the native German Shepherd and Doberman Pinscher.

The United States Army did not have a canine unit, though some dogs were smuggled overseas, the most famous being Sergeant Stubby.

Obviously, their senses made them important for sentry duty and also enabled them to find wounded soldiers, particularly at night in No-Man’s Land.

St. Bernards pulled field artillery into spots horses could not go.

Terriers

Terriers were vitally important in the trenches–they were particularly adept at finding and kills the rats that plagued soldiers.

They served as messengers, carrying information between the lines; as well as medical supplies, water and sometimes even food.

Some were used to lay wire, particularly for telegraphy lines, for both sides.

Dogs transported homing pigeons between the lines.

 

The famous actor dog, Rin Tin Tin, was found in a German canine kennel as a puppy and rescued by an American soldier at the end of the war.

Soldiers brought him back to the United States where he starred in twenty-seven film career before his death in 1932!

Many dogs traveled with their owners as companion, demonstrating that even the enemy can have a soft spot for a pet. The armies all had veterinarians as part of their units.

Training School

Animals in the First World War  by Neil Storey recounts the establishment of a training school for messenger dogs, after requests from senior officers on the front lines:

“This was formed at Shoeburyness in Essex because the big guns of the artillery that were fired in training nearby would provide excellent training for the dogs to get used to regular gunfire . . .

the dogs that proved the best suited were sheepdogs, lurchers and Airedales; any dog who showed no desire for work was sent back to where it came from.

The trained dogs were sent to a number of theatres of war, notably the Balkans and the Western Front, where camps with long lines of kennels stretched out–like tiny soldiers’ huts in a model army camp.”

Many dogs who made their way to France started as family pets.

One dog in particular, an Irish terrier named Prince, actually followed his owner to war. Soldiers smuggled him onto a transport ship. He ultimately found his way to his owner on the Front Lines, in a sort-of reverse Incredible Journey!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a vintage clip of one small Boston bull terrier trained to carry items.

 

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