British War Dog School at Shoebury Garrison

Today marks the Centenary of World War 1 and I wonder how many of you are aware that our very own Shoebury Garrison was the home of the first British War Dog School established in 1917 by Lt Col E H Richardson, a dog enthusiast that prior to the war was involved in training Police dogs. 

The British War Dog School trained dogs for messenger, sentry or guard duties at the front line and though all the dogs played a huge part in the war effort it was the messenger dogs that helped to save so many lives.

During WW1 communications between the front line and field headquarters was difficult but crucial and it was the job of young men to run the gambit of enemy fire, explosions, shell holes and muddy terrain to get vital information back and forth, a very risky role with a high mortality rate.  In 1916 a letter from the Royal Artillery suggested that dogs might be better suited due to their speed and fleetness of foot so Richardson set to work experimenting with the training dogs for this role.

The first dogs to go to the front line were two Airedales, Wolf and Prince.  They successfully carried a message from the front line 4 miles back to Brigade Headquarters and proved their usefulness and so in 1917 The British War Dog School was established at Shoebury Garrison and ‘keepers’, as the dog handlers were known, were recruited.

One of the key requirements for a keeper was that they showed a ‘sympathetic understanding of animals’, something that is often missing in today’s society when it comes to dogs and indeed each other.  Keepers had to be honest and conscientious and any keeper seen to display ‘roughness or lack of sympathy towards the dogs’ was instantly dismissed.

Training took around 5 weeks and the dogs were taught using kindness and rewards, they were treated with compassion and affection not compulsion or violence.  Once trained the keeper and his dogs, usually 2 or 3, were sent out to the front lines to take on this vital messenger role.

Many of the dogs came from Battersea Dogs & Cats home but they were also donated by local people, often those who had lost a Father, Husband or Son to the War but still wanted to feel they were helping the cause.  The indomitable British Spirit in a time of heartache and horror.

The fascination for me when I began researching for an interview on BBC Essex was that Lt Col Richardson had been involved in the training of police dogs and then the war dogs, he wrote several books that promoted positive training methods yet after the war all that seemed to be forgotten and dog trainers moved towards a more aggressive form of compulsion training.

Richardson states “Coercion is of no avail, for of what use would this be when the dog is two or three miles away from its keeper? In fact, it may be said that the whole training is based on appeal. To this end the dog is gently taught to associate everything pleasant with its working hours. Under no circumstances whatever must it be roughly handled or roughly spoken to. If it makes a mistake, or is slack in its work when being trained, it is never chastised, but is merely shown how to do it over again. If any of the men under instruction are observed to display roughness or lack of sympathy with the dogs, they should be instantly dismissed, as a promising young dog could easily be thrown back in his training, or even spoiled altogether, by sharp handling.”

From my point of view we have battled for many years to get back to this sort of training and I am dumfounded as to why the methods and teaching of Colonel Konrad Most, which were based on punishment and compulsion, became the building blocks of dog training for so many years after the Great War.

In all my years of study in relation to training and behaviour, I had never heard of Lt Col Edwin Hautenville Richardson until I was approached about this interview.  Knowing what I know about dogs and training I couldn’t see how a dog that was trained using compulsion would achieve the sort of results that the messenger dogs did but once you read about Richardsons methods and ethos you can understand why these dogs achieved such amazing results, why they continued on in their ‘duties’ even after they had been shot, wounded, gassed and injured and why these amazing animals that we owe so much to, were so dedicated to their roles. 

Training with compassion, understanding, love and enjoyment is the only way to achieve that incredible bond that a dog will offer.

Time Flies

I can't believe that my last post was in February!!  This year has flown by so my apologies for not being more up to date.

 

 

Ehren AKA Pigwit Puppy AKA Brat turned a year old on 28th June and has grown in to a beautiful and clever girl.  I know I may be a tad biased but she truly is lovely. The Brat stage seems to have passed although I did fall foul of her new gnashers when she chewed through my doorframe & my door.  Yes my door!!












The rest of the gang are doing OK.  Miss Olive had surgery in April for the removal of a Mast Cell Tumour and Colin has recently undergone tests for stomach problems.

Olives diagnosis took me totally by surprise as previous tests had said it was non-cancerous but the surgery removed the tumour with a good margin & it was low grade.  She has another lump that will be removed next month when the muscles in her legs are fully balanced again but the amazing Bendy Dog doesn't let anything slow her down.

Colin has been back and forth to the vets for months with obvious discomfort that 2 vets tried to tell me was his hips even though I was positive it was his stomach/abdomen.  I had to insist on blood tests and an ultrasound which really disappointed me and has made me consider changing my vets after over 20 years.

The ultrasound revealed a thickening of his entire small intestines which could be either Inflammatory Bowel Disease or something more sinister like Lymphoma.  As there would be no treatment if it was confirmed as Lymphoma I opted not to have invasive biopsies done and have gone along the road of treating him as having IBD even though he doesn't have any of the listed symptoms.

Changing his food to a novel protein (venison) and adding turmeric and coconut oil to his diet seems to be helping.  Just yesterday he was chasing a ball and trying to jump in the tree to get apples.  He is moving much more freely and when getting on and off of the sofa or the bed he isn't groaning in pain so fingers crossed that he continues to improve.  I am going to make an appointment with a holistic vet once he has been on the new diet for a month and see what else they can suggest for him.

And the old Grott is still a grumpy, stinky old man & less than happy that I have increased his hydrotherapy to twice a week as he is so lazy on his walks.

The first year with a new puppy I think is always the hardest and most time consuming (& costly if you need to replace door frames and doors).  Working with them to build that bond takes extra effort in a multi dog household.  It is important that our relationship gets extra work so that she will respond to my commands no matter what the others are doing, that she knows when I am speaking to her and when I am speaking to the other dogs and also that the other dogs don't get left out. 

Finding one to one time in a busy life for 4 dogs can be tiring but I wouldn't change it for the world but that doesn't mean it is for everyone.  For some people, coping with just one dog can be too much and nothing like the ideal that they had hoped for. 

As some of you know, that is how Olive came in to my life.  Her owners had researched and planned and planned before taking her on but the reality of living with a puppy at that stage in their lives was just too much for them to cope with.  They made a very tough choice to re-home her and she came to me for a week whilst they made sure they had made the right decision and just never left. 

I feel it is part of my job to support clients when they come to this decision, it is not one I can make for them but I do feel it is a brave thing to do - to admit that you cannot offer a dog what it needs.  No judgement should be made for those that accept this and make that tough choice to find a more suitable home for their pups/dogs.

Olives owners still come and see her now and again, it takes her a moment or two to realise who they are but then her whole manner changes, as is typical of Weimaraners they aren't really interested in other people but once she realises who they are she gets all giggly and silly and bouncy with them.  It makes them happy to see that she is happy and enjoying the madness that is our life.  I have no problems with them visiting her as I know she is happy with us and the life she has.

We should never judge others until we have walked a mile in their shoes.

With the Centenary of World War 1 approaching I will be featured on BBC Radio talking about the dog training facility that was located at Shoebury Garrison.  I thoroughly enjoyed researching this piece so will post more about the wonderful work of the war dogs on 4th August 2014.

The Brat Files

The Brat Files Part 1

My gorgeous puppy has gone through several phases already and she is just 7 months old!

As Ehren was so ill when we she came to live with us, our first couple of weeks, although fraught with worry and fear that we might lose her,  were relatively easy in the realms of new puppy ownership.  She slept well and was happy to amuse herself with her toys, her energy levels were lower but as the medication took effect and her health improved so the other dogs began to play with her.  She was clean and we only had the odd accident, going through the night from day one.

Then came the crocodile puppy or velociraptor, take your pick of terms, we sure did!  At this stage we had a puppy that was constantly biting and biting and biting some more.  I had toys and treats everywhere, my house looked more like a pet shop than usual and I was not averse to giving her the socks off of my feet if she was not to be distracted from attacking them.

This lasted about 2 weeks and with every day the play biting got less and the sock removal was a thing of the past.  I could walk through the house without a puppy attached to my leg and where we had worked on her sit from the outset she had learned what it meant and when asked, even if the teeth were half way to the foot, calf or hand, she would sit and wait for her toy or her treat or whatever reward we had to hand.

Ehren was a bit later than normal puppies getting out in to the big wide world as her vaccinations couldn’t be given until her immune system had started to behave normally and even then we had to wait 2 weeks after the final vaccination to make sure she had actually built an immunity.  This meant more energy in the house as we couldn’t walk her or start to expand her world.  She had to be content with playing with the other dogs and us at home, going for rides in the van, visiting friends and going to the centre and she had a couple of play dates with other puppies which helped to socialise her.  The constant vet and specialist visits gave her lots of rides in the car too.

As often happens, once we were able to take her on walks and to play off lead with other pups and of course the rest of the gang, we enjoyed lots of peace and quiet as she processed the new sights, sounds and experiences of the world. She is a clever girl and sailed through her puppy and beginners obedience with Jim at the other end of the lead and her recall and control of lead is extremely good thanks to my efforts. 

We were enjoying the wonders of an easy puppy.  And then it changed. Hesitations when asking her to sit or lie down, recall is still good but ranging out at a distance that I am not happy with.  Barking at everything.  Destroying her toys, even her favourite little bear that she has slept with since the second day we had her.  Terrorising the other dogs and refusing to have her nails cut or be brushed.  And now my sweet little PigWit puppy has become a BRAT!!

My puppy is a BRAT!!

Now I know that this stage won’t last long.  That with patience, consistency and lots of praise and reward (and alcohol for me), we will get through this and she will settle down and stop being a BRAT.  Well, for a little while at least.  But it’s hard work!!  Again, I know this.  I help people deal with the different life stages of their dogs and the trials they bring every day, it’s my job and I guess I just wanted you all to know that we all go through it, even me.

So if I look a little tired, seem a little more worn down than normal, you now know the reason.  My puppy is a BRAT!!!