Photo By Eve Baker | Cpl. Kyle Newman, Lance Cpl. Jacob Saucdeo and military working dog Rolf demonstrate a...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. - Marine Corps Base Quantico recently made national news in a positive way. On Dec. 17, Margaret Warner from PBS’s NewsHour interviewed author Rebecca Frankel at the National Museum of the Marine Corps and at the MCBQ Provost Marshal’s Office dog kennels to discuss Frankel’s new book War Dogs: Tales of Canine Heroism, History, and Love.
Frankel’s book presents the history of military working dogs from the Civil War through the present day and discusses the incredible bonds between the dogs and their handlers. Frankel said what makes a great dog/handler team is the closeness and trust between the two and presented numerous examples of bonds between dogs and people in War Dogs.
During the interview, Warner and Frankel discussed the story of Marine Pfc. Colton Rusk, a dog handler who was shot and killed by a sniper in Afghanistan. Rusk’s dog Eli was so loyal to him that he laid on top of his body when Rusk fell, at first not allowing anyone to come near. Approximately two months after Rusk’s death, his parents were able to adopt Eli, and according to Frankel, during the first meeting between Eli and the family, Eli formed an instant bond with Rusk’s parents and siblings.
The dogs and handlers of the MCBQ kennels have their own compelling story as well. According to Kennel Master Staff Sgt. Shaun Dockrill, the Quantico dogs are Belgian Malinois or German Shepherds, and most started life several thousand miles away in Germany.
The Department of Defense purchases the majority of its working dogs from large kennels in Europe during its three yearly buying trips, said DOD Military Working Dog Program Manager Douglas Miller, and 150-200 dogs are purchased on each trip. All of the dogs are first sent to a 120-day training course at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas before coming to Quantico. They are usually 1½ to 2 years in age when they arrive at MCBQ and already have names.
Regarding the names, Miller said the dogs are named at the European kennels before arrival in the U.S., and many of the dogs have the same name. Rex and Max are two of the most common, Miller said, though the dogs are given a unique identification tattoo in their left ear consisting of a letter and three numbers.
The training at Lackland prepares the dogs for a variety of missions, such as patrolling and explosive detection or patrolling and drug detection, said Miller. According to PMO dog handler Sgt. Justin Territo, one dog will not conduct both types of missions, because if a dog assumes the alert posture, indicating it has found something, the officers need to know how to respond. Therefore, by keeping certain dogs trained for specific tasks, officers will know whether to ramp up a response to the presence of explosives or to drugs, depending on which dog has detected the anomaly.
The biggest mission for the dogs at Quantico, Territo said, is being a visual/physical deterrent to would-be troublemakers; the dogs serve as a show of force at the gates and during various functions aboard the base. Territo said they also assist in the conduct of narcotics sweeps, as well as health and comfort inspections in the barracks.
Territo’s dog Jesi is female, but the Quantico kennels have both male and female dogs with names like Rambo, Bowie, Axo, Patrick, Fannie and Ness, among others. Both male and female dogs perform the same missions equally well.
The more aggressive dogs, regardless of gender, will also be trained in helping take down suspects. On the day of filming, Cpl. Kyle Newman and his working dog Rolf demonstrated a dog takedown of a fleeing suspect, with Lance Corporal Jacob Saucedo playing the role of the criminal. Saucedo wore a thick, protective sleeve on his arm and attempted to run away from Newman during a simulated questioning over suspicious activity. Rolf sprinted after Saucedo and launched himself at him, latching onto Saucedo’s padded arm. Rolf maintained his hold on Saucedo and waited for Newman to approach, only releasing Saucedo at Newman’s command.
The dogs are trained to perform both on- and off-leash, and handlers conduct much of their training in the large fenced yards on kennel property, Dockrill said. All the dogs live in the kennels, rather than in their handlers’ homes, but they are fed twice per day and get free play time in the yard daily. On weekends and holidays, there is a rotating schedule of dog handlers who will come in and take care of the animals. When a handler is ill or on leave, a caretaker is assigned to perform all the regular handler’s duties concerning the dog.
When a dog comes to Quantico, it stays here for its entire career, Dockrill said, but the handlers will rotate in and out on regular permanent change of station orders. When a handler transfers to a new duty station, the kennel master and staff find a new handler who best matches the dog’s personality. According to Dockrill, some of the dogs just want to work no matter who is handling them, and the adjustment period may be as brief as two days or require no time at all. The average adjustment period is about two weeks, however, before the handler and dog are working in full sync.
The NewsHour special aired on PBS on Dec. 23. It can be viewed online at http://www.pbs.org/newshour/.
No dogs or lance corporals were injured during the production of this story.
| Date Taken: | 01.20.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 01.20.2015 11:14 |
| Story ID: | 152271 |
| Location: | QUANTICO, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 123 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, PBS’s NewsHour films segment on military working dogs aboard base, by Eve Baker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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