A fur-footed force: love, attention and care breed elite military working dogs

Airman, Dec, 2003 by Tammy Cournoyer

Jackson was born at Lackland Air Force Base. Texas, atop sheets bearing the Wilford Hall Medical Center monogram. He'll probably never meet his father. Dear ol' dad was on temporary duty in Southwest Asia when he was born, and, although he's back in town, he doesn't visit.

Mom is still around, but Jackson will probably never see her again, because several weeks after his birth, he and his six siblings were placed in different foster homes. But don't feel sorry for Jackson. He has a bright future and a full-time job awaiting him. Even though Jackson's humble beginnings sound like something out of a Dickens novel, it's all part of a plan. Jackson is a military working dog in training and was bred and born as part of the Department of Defense Puppy Program at Lackland.

This "puppy program" provides the military with dogs specifically for patrol and explosive detection. The goal is to augment the supply of dogs still being purchased from vendors with additional top-quality dogs.

Lacy Smith, the puppy program manager, believes that breeding puppies in-house will produce an exceptional dog.

"We're hoping to form a more elite dog which will work longer and have less medical problems," Smith said. "Our dogs will work longer because they enter training at a younger age and ship to tire field at a younger age."

The breeding program is also filling an increased need for dogs that has steadfastly picked up, especially in the last year and a half.

"Since 9-11 the demand for dogs has just gone through the roof," Smith said. "lust this year we needed 300-plus dogs. If we rely solely on vendors, we're going to run short. Hopefully, this breeding program can fill that gap for us."

The program has produced nearly 110 Belgian Malinois puppies since its start in 1999. Of those, about 47 percent have gone on to successful military careers.

"The military has very stringent criteria for dogs. and it's really difficult to make a military working dog," said Smith, whose background is in psychology with an emphasis in animal behavior.

Making a high-quality military working dog begins before birth by selecting the right parents,

"Parents are handpicked for their excellence in genetics--medically and behaviorally," Smith explained. "We want a dog which has good eyes, excellent hips, good elbows and comes from a really nice working pedigree going back generations. We also test for nerves, detection behavior and patrol ability."

Once the match is made, the dogs are allowed to breed naturally, if possible, or through artificial insemination. In Jackson's case, his mother, Urelia, was artificially inseminated by Aaslan.

Although Urelia is untrained and was purchased solely for breeding because of her bloodlines, Aaslan was an "A" litter puppy, from one of the first litters born at Lackland in March 1999. His physical attributes and work ethic have made him a stud of choice.

"You can't ask for more dog than Aaslan," Smith said.

After birth, the puppies spend quality time with their mother learning how to just be dogs. At 6 weeks old, humans start playing and socializing with them.

While in the whelping kennel, the puppies are exposed to various objects and sounds to prepare them for facing the world in which they'll be working.

"At a very early age, we'll present them with new objects every day," said Stewart Hilliard, a civilian psychologist and behavioral specialist. "For example, we'll take a wheelbarrow in, let them smell it, climb on it and get to know it. Then the next day we may take in a basketball and let them explore that. The end goal is to develop extremely confident and bold adult dogs."

Taped noise also plays in the background to get the puppies used to outside sounds they'll hear such as loud machines, vacuum cleaners and music, Hilliard said.

"More than anything else, it's about socialization and habitualization to the environment," he said.

"We start testing at 8 weeks," Smith explained. "What we're looking for is dogs which have a drive to possess objects, whether it be a plastic bottle, stuffed toy, a jingle ball or roiled up towels. Puppies which, when you throw [an object], want to chase it and come back to you, and they keep their entire mouth on that object."

Smith looks for dogs which show a lot of possession and boldness traits, and are not nervous or afraid of sounds.

At 9 weeks old, the puppies go to foster families to grow up some. The main duty of a foster family is to love the puppy in their charge.

"Foster families are expected to spend time with the dog, raise it much like a family pet with the exception that our puppy needs to be exposed environmentally to a lot of different areas," Smith said. "So where a family might leave their pet at home when they go out, we want our puppy to go with them."

That includes taking the puppies to sporting events, factories, warehouses or anywhere there are strange noises, slick floors and dark spaces. Basically. Hilliard said, the goal is to expose the puppies to as much as possible, plus show them a good time.