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Article IndexBY PAT SUMMERS
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
At first, the 70-some Navy SEALs on Sunday’s bin Laden mission aroused curiosity. By today, attention shifted to the only four-footed member of the team that took out the terrorist: a Navy SEAL dog.
The dog may be a German Shepherd or a Belgian Malinois – but however you identify him or her, it spells “hero dog.” So much is being made of the dog’s courage and special skills that spokespersons for the two breeds are vying to have their breed specified as the one that produced the hero.
For the record, most people probably couldn’t distinguish between the two working breeds, that’s how similar they look. The most casual search online for the Belgian breed (named for the city where it was developed) mentions that it’s often confused with the German shepherd.
As described on the American Kennel Club’s site, the Belgian Malinois, however, one of the four types of Belgian sheepherding dogs, is “more elegant in build and lighter-boned, but does not lack for strength, agility or herding ability.”
However, both breeds come in for praise as having “the best overall combination of keen sense of smell, endurance, speed, strength, courage, intelligence and adaptability to almost any climatic condition,” according to a fact sheet from the military working dog unit, mentioned in the New York Times yesterday.
And both breeds are commonly used by the military to do things soldiers can’t. They’re excellent at detecting explosives; they can sniff out people concealed in holes or hidden rooms; they run twice as fast as humans; and as psychological deterrents, they can pacify unruly groups, especially in cultures where dogs are not regarded as pets.
Such benefits, according to the Times’ story, are among the reasons for the military’s growing use of dogs; the estimated 600 canines active in Afghanistan and Iraq can expect reinforcements.
Even though how SEALs and their partner dogs are trained is a deep secret, some things are known – while others can seem hyperbolic. Obviously, SEAL (for SEa, Air, and Land) dogs are trained for flight in and exit from helicopters with their humans.
They may wear self-inflating life jackets and, as news.discovery.com reports, “canine tactical assault vests” that besides protecting the animal, can include cameras and speakers, both to convey what the dog sees and to receive orders.
