Military working dogs

sniff out trouble

BY SGT TY STAFFORD 

Military working dogs and their handlers are in great demand in Iraq and Afghanistan for their bomb detection capabilities.

These dogs and their handlers provide the same range of services to help keep the Soldiers and civilians at Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo safe. Besides bomb detection, these partners can also apprehend suspects, track persons, detect drugs and contraband and work as a general deterrent.

With only three dogs at Bondsteel, these tasks can become cumbersome, but the crew of active-duty Soldiers from Germany, stay positive.

“It can be busy, but we love our jobs,” said Spc. Justin Juracek, an Atlanta, Ill., native with the 92nd Military Police Company, Baumholder, Germany. Juracek’s partner for almost a year is Ata, a 4-year-old German shepherd.

THE DOGS

Most U.S. working dogs are German Shepherds, Belgian Shepherd Malinois, and Dutch Shepherds, said Orlando, Fla., native Staff Sgt. Shaun Crouse, the noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the K-9 unit from the 230th MP Co., in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Shepherds are picked for their skills as working dogs due to their intelligence, strength, agility and obedience.

“My dog is one of the few I have ever seen like him,” Crouse said. Crouse’s partner is a 7-year old Rottweiler mix named Johnson. Weighing in at more than 100 pounds, Johnson is the largest dog in the group.

Another dog and handler is Rena, a 3-year old German shepherd, and Sgt. Bryan Caloway, a Whitewright, Texas native also with the 230th MP Co. Caloway who works as the canine training NCOIC.

Crouse added that most dogs enter working service at around 2 ½ to 3 years old and will remain in for up to nine years.

“Once they reach their end of service, there are three options for the dog. The first is being adopted out, in which handlers have first pick. The second option is to be sent to Lackland Air Force Base to work as trainer dogs and the last and least used option is having have them put them down if they are really mean or not easily controlled,” Crouse said.

This deployment to Kosovo is the first time all the dogs have been together. During deployments to Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom areas of operation, the dogs are only on the ground for six months. In Kosovo, where the conditions are less harsh and the operational tempo is slower, the dogs and handlers are deployed for a year-long tour.

BECOMING A HANDLER

To become a dog handler, Soldiers must attend 11 weeks of training at the Military Working Dog Handler Course at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. Once they receive verification from the Department of the Army, they are approved for the additional skill identifier.

Students are trained in two blocks of instruction. The first is a six-week block during which students learn how to handle a patrol dog. They learn about maintaining dog gear, performing safety procedures, maintaining kennels, managing health, using first aid, applying the principles of behavioral conditioning, documenting training, and maintaining utilization records.

Within the first week students are assigned a military working dog. Once the students have established a rapport with the dog, they begin their hands-on training. The students begin by learning the dog training principles: basic obedience, running the dog over obstacles, building search procedures, locating a suspect in a building, scouting, locating a suspect in a field or wood line, controlled aggression, how to apprehend a suspect, and control under gunfire.

To keep their patrolling skills sharp at Bondsteel, the handlers use the “bite suit;” a suit made of a strong cotton-synthetic material that is heavily padded for the greatest possible protection of the wearer.

The long sleeves act as hand protectors and the suit is fitted with front buckles sealed with a Velcro fastener so the person can easily pull it off if necessary.

During bite training the “mock suspect” is sent through a series of scenarios including running away from the handler and the dog, a body search leading to the “suspect” bolting and finally the suspect giving up after initially running.

The training is not only realistic, but it helps build the working relationship with the handler.

“The dogs have a kennel area and sleep with their handlers in their rooms at night,” Juracek said.

In the second phase of the handlers training, students learn the aspects of a detection dog. Students learn more about behavioral conditioning, protocol training, detecting an odor, and proficiency training (how to maintain a dog’s level of training).

In all the training, the handlers learn how to maneuver their dog in a variety of areas: barracks, buildings, warehouses, vehicles, and aircraft. At the end of each phase of training, the students are given a performance test before being certified as patrol/detector dog handler. At Bondsteel, the handlers have an obstacle course with tunnels, steps and windows to help keep the dogs skills intact.

“If there is no door to go through, but there is an open window, then I will go though it with the dog. So we have to work on those skills while we are here,” Juracek said.

Juracek said the handlers have a kennel where they can house their dogs, but due to their condition, and the presence of mold, the kennels underwent construction for a couple of months; they reopened in early August.

DOG MAINTENANCE

The K-9 team also has the benefit of being collocated with the Multi-National Task Force (East) Veterinarians Office.

“It makes things convenient and helps make the working relationship between us and the dog handlers better,” said Maj. Dana Dobbs, the MNTF (E) veterinarian officer-in-charge, who is attached to MNTF (E) from the 7229th Medical Support Unit located in Fort Lewis, Wash.

“The dogs receive a monthly check and also a six-month check up where they conduct all the regular tests,” Crouse said.

According to Dobbs, an Ellensburg, Wash., native, the dogs are required to have a 6-month physical exam.

“We check blood work, urinalysis and check fecal exams for parasites,” she said.

Dobbs said they also look for arthritis, which is common in working dogs and Gastric Volvulus Dialation (GVD). GVD occurs when the stomach physically “flips” over itself within the abdomen, resulting in a life threatening deceleration of blood flow to the organs.

“GVD can occur in dogs who are overly excited, especially working dogs when they are out on missions,” Dobbs said.

The dogs are also weighed monthly and are given a score of one to nine on their body condition.

“We look at the amount of fat around their rib cage and see if they have an hour glass shape looking at them from a top view,” she said.

Normal range for a military dog is around five, Dobbs added.

The veterinarians’ office also helps the dog handlers with their dog’s diet.

“We set how much they eat a day and we supply the handlers with the dog food,” said Staff Sgt. Kelly Van Allman, a veterinarian technician also with the 7229th MSU who hails from Port Orchard, Wash.

Additional services the office provides to the handlers and the dogs are basic first aid care training and kennel inspections, Dobbs said.

“We are currently working on the renovation of the kennel and are inspecting for little things that could hurt the dogs, like protruding screws or wires. We also check the obstacle course to make sure it’s safe for the dogs to use,” she said.

For first aid training, they try to ensure that the handlers can provide basic first aid to their dogs if they are injured while outside of Bondsteel.

“If they can get an I.V. started and get them here it is great,” she said.

The clinic has a full operating room with an anesthesia machine and can support the majority of first aid care at Bondsteel.

“The dog center is in Germany,” Dobbs added. “If we can stabilize the injury here, we can evacuate them if we cannot support medical treatment of the injury.”

The veterinarian clinic can also support dog care for KFOR units who have dogs, she said.

“We are a starting point for the dogs. We support them in any way we can and they look at the vet clinic as a place to play,” Dobbs said.

TRAINING WITH KFOR AND KP UNITS

Besides their mission at Bondsteel, the K-9 unit also participates in joint training with other KFOR units and the Kosovo Police.

“We get together once a week with the KP, the Austrians and the Finnish soldiers for joint training,” Crouse said. “It’s great to get together and work the dogs together because this truly is a multi-national mission and we all have to know how we work and how the dogs react to different situations,” Crouse said.

Caloway added that the training also helps the dogs and the handlers learn to react to different odors.

For instance, TNT or marijuana might smell different here than it does in the states, Caloway said. This may bring a different reaction from the dog which the handlers must be able to identify.

The handlers recently visited the Austrian Camp Casablanca in July to help certify the KP bomb detection working dogs.

Unlike the U.S. dogs who are dual trained in explosives and patrolling, the KP has three separate categories; explosive, narcotics and patrol.

Using a basic European testing scale, four KP officers and their dogs went through the two-day bomb certification course run by senior KP dog handlers and evaluated by the Austrians, United Nations Mission in Kosovo-Police and U.S. Army personnel.

“Explosive dogs, which in a place like Kosovo, with all the bombs and unexploded ordnance is an important aspect,” said John Milne, the chief monitor from UNMIK-P, who has been in Kosovo for seven months.

During the certification the dogs and handlers were tested on obedience, signaling ability and the temperament of the dog when finding explosive training aids hidden throughout a warehouse.

Points were deducted if a dog scratched at one of the training aids, a false report was given or the dog was not well handled while searching to name a few. The officers had to score a minimum of 50 points to pass the explosive search portion.

“This was the first time for the KP to actually do their own certification,” Milne said.

Sgt. Minush Krasniqi, the commander of the KP K-9 unit since 2002, was on hand to evaluate his officers; all of which passed the bomb detection stage of the certification process.

“I think we have come to another level since the program began,” he said, “The objective of the certification is to not fool the dog or the handler but to achieve a basic standard that we all feel comfortable with.”

Krasniqi added that by setting an attainable standard helps relax the handler.

“If you don’t feel good, the dog will feel it,” he said.

The handlers had previously trained with the dogs for nearly six months prior to the certification process.

Two of the dogs who were being certified, were actually bred in Kosovo using a female dog already in the unit and a male from Germany.

“It’s hard to find good dogs and it can be very expensive to buy one. So by breeding our own we can help solve that problem,” Krasniqi said. Of the seven born in the litter, Krasniqi said four are currently in service. “Two bomb, one narcotic and one patrol.”

Juracek, who was also on hand for the certification process, added that this was an exceptional stride forward for the KP unit.

Milne and Sgt. Markus Schmidt, from the 18th Austrian Contingent KFOR K-9 unit, both agreed that this was a great step forward for the KP.

“The people of Kosovo can now have faith in the K-9 unit and the KP,” Schmidt said. Schmidt was a key factor in setting up the training and certification of the KP handlers.

“We want this unit to get out in the public and just walk with their dogs and show them to the kids and just let everyone out there they are there and they can accomplish the mission,” Milne said.

The coalition and KP handlers will continue to train with the U.S. personnel through January when the current K-9 unit is expected to return to Germany.

- Information provided by the Working Dog Handler Course at Lackland AFB