Hi bloggers welcome back,
I don’t purport to be anything like an expert on working dogs, although I have some experience with working with Military Guard dogs and although not a handler I did work on occasions with the Royal Marines and their dogs. I thought it might be interesting just to have a look at some of the more common working dogs.
- Military and Police dogs: They are used for a number of reasons in locating criminals, explosive and drugs and of late with the military they have been used in combat zones. They can be Malinois and German Shepards, but can really be any dog bread.
- Herding dogs: What’s is really interesting is that we move into another area with these dogs, they are intelligent and while still working to commands they have an intuitive understanding of what is required of them. You only need to look at the Sheep Dog trials normally Border Collies, to know that they know what they are doing.
- Sled Dogs: I would assume that there are less and less of this type of breed with the onset of motorised snow vehicles. Siberian Husky, Alaskan Malamute, Alaskan Husky make up the core breeds and of course generally work in the frozen Aritic regions. Their particular speciality is one of endurance, they can stand the cold and do travel upto a hundred miles a day.
- Search and Rescue dogs: The number of recent earthquakes in the Far East and closer to home in Turkey have brought to the forefront these dogs. German shepherd, Bloodhound, Labrador retriever are the most common breed and for good reason, they as we know have incredible good smell and acute hearing. I would Like to know how many people owe their lives to these heroic canines.
Well, I hope that has given you some insight into working dogs and I for one always sit up when the nightly news shows one of these search and rescue dogs doing their stuff.
Until next time, stay safe and enjoy your dog.
