The Dog Days Of Summer

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3rd Brigade update: Iraq heat slows, doesn’t stop working dogs

CONTINGENCY OPERATING SITE KALSU, Iraq – They are known as the “dog days” of summer, but this, the hottest time of the year, is the most unfriendly to the bomb-sniffing military working dogs deployed to Iraq.

Sgt. Jared Wall, a specialized search dog handler with the 67th Engineer Detachment, 5th Engineer Battalion out of Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., has worked with his dog, Staff Sgt. Robbie, in these restrictive conditions many times in the past four years, but he has to make a lot of adjustments to do so.

In higher temperatures, the dogs have to be kept to a maximum of ten minutes of work at a time, and the handlers cannot let their dogs’ body temperatures rise too high, the Claremore, Okla. native said.

Robbie’s resting temperature is 101.5 degrees, Wall said, and he can’t let it get much higher.

“Their temperature can change dramatically when we’re working,” he said. “Once he starts getting to 105, you have to start cooling him down, because if you let him get to 108, his brain starts cookin’. I’ve seen dogs go from 100 to 108 in ten minutes, so it’s definitely something you’ve got to be constantly aware of.”

There is no set temperature for all military dogs, Wall said, as each dog has a different natural body temperature, so the top temperature they can reach is based on their resting temperature.

“I’ve seen dogs that have a working temperature of 106,” Wall said.

In order to keep Robbie cool, Wall has a number of approaches at his disposal, such as wetting Robbie’s neck, underside and armpits, and he has even used a cooling vest that held ice packs during past deployments.

Wall also carries a collapsible water bowl with him during training and real-world missions that he fills with water from his hydration source in order to help keep Robbie hydrated.

Yet, for the extreme temperatures of Iraq in July, he has other tools as well.

One of the most important is a thermometer, though Wall said that, after years of working with Robbie, the thermometer serves primarily as a way to show commanders of units he works with that Robbie needs a break. Wall has worked with Robbie since 2006 and has learned visual and other cues to tell when he is starting to get too hot.

“There’s uncontrollable panting, for one, just constant without stopping whatsoever,” Wall said. “My dog in particular, he’ll make a noise with his throat. Not quite like he’s gasping, but he’ll be panting so hard that he’ll start to make that noise.”

Aside from the issues of overheating, the very act of excessive panting also decreases the dog’s ability to detect explosives, Wall said, as it is breathing almost exclusively through its mouth.

In addition, Wall can inject water under Robbie’s skin with a hypodermic needle in a manner similar to giving an IV, and this allows his body to absorb it more rapidly, thus helping to keep Robbie hydrated under extreme conditions.

“You can’t freak out when you’ve got a dog. You’ve got to keep your cool,” Wall said. “It makes it a lot easier, for me at least.”

Having Robbie to work with makes other things easier as well, even dealing with the loneliness of deployment, despite the extra responsibility, Wall said.

“He’s pretty much my best friend.”

“It’s tough, because you’ve got to be stern with him; you can’t treat him like a pet, because if you do, the dog will take it for granted,” Wall said. “They’re smart, and if you let them slip once, you’ve got to correct them 10 times to fix it.”

Still, it’s all worth it for Wall, who plans on adopting Robbie when the time comes for his 8-year-old dog to retire.

“Anyone who’s a dog owner knows that it’s a headache sometimes,” he said, “but you wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”Read more at www.wltz.com

 

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