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.
