Other articles with keyword "DOGGIEPING" since 12/29/04
Posted on 03/22/2007 5:41:03 PM PDT by SandRat
ping
Question: In country, on a base, where weapons and explosives are everywhere, how do the explosive sniffing dogs function? You'd thin k it would be a sensory overload for them?
No idea.
Ping.
I wonder how easily these dogs adjust to civilian life after they retire?
I do think that i would do as this one says, at once and quickly.
What wonderful gifts from God, when he gave us dogs for helpmates.
They have an entire program to re-socialize them now. During Nam and before, I believe they euthenized them
Glad to hear that. Working dogs simply amaze me. My dog is wonderful, but he's just a lazy couch potato, like me. We suit each other.
[The dogs are well-trained and well-kept]
And well loved too, I'm sure!
(Please Freep-mail me if you’d like to be on or off the list.)
ping
After this war is over, I hope these canine heroes are better treated than those left behind in Vietnam.
No excuses can be offered at any level: what was done to those talented war dog heroes was just bl**dy awful, inhumane, and WRONG. To say nothing of the anguish their Handlers/Partners must have felt.
Let's hope that the US Armed Forces powers-that-be have learned at least *this* much since then!
Meanwhile: to all the Canine heroes serving the Cause of Liberty and Freedom anywhere. GOD BLESS YOU ALL, AND YOUR HANDLERS. "We be of one blood, thou and I". Here's to as much water as you want when you need it, the occasional treat when you do really well (but not too often), a cup-and-a-half of Eukanuba each day for a nice glossy coat, and a warm place to sleep at nite. And get in a few good Bites on the Bad Guys for the rest of us!
> They have an entire program to re-socialize them now. During Nam and before, I believe they euthenized them
They certainly did -- or turned them over to the ARVN. About 200 made it back from Vietnam: none to Civilian life.
> Question: In country, on a base, where weapons and explosives are everywhere, how do the explosive sniffing dogs function? You'd thin k it would be a sensory overload for them?
Same way they do in any target-rich environment: like my back yard and the surrounding Jungle, chock-full of wee creatures and sounds and scents. Or a sheep paddock full of sheep and lambs and other interesting distractions. They are selective and they are very clever: within their core competencies (smelling and hearing and "instinct") they are infinitely more talented than we are.
The scope of their senses is immense: the sense of smell, the sense of hearing -- orders of magnitude more developed and finely nuanced than ours. Some may argue, but I'd go so far as to say that they have a highly-developed "sixth sense" almost like ESP. This is especially true for wolf-like dogs like German Shepherds.
We hear a shrill whistle: they hear a finely-nuanced symphony of complex sounds, many beyond our ability to detect with the human ear. We smell a pungent odor: they smell a vast feast of multiple complex scents and smells -- look at their noses. Even a pug dog has longer and deeper nasal passages than most humans: imagine what it is like for a long-nosed GSD or a blood-hound!
Even for people, the scent of smell is the strongest and longest-lasting of senses. It's true! I could be 20 or 30 years since you last smelled a certain scent: but as soon as you do you are hot-wired to a certain lane in Seattle, say. And you can immediately visualize what you were doing and why. You can even "see" in your mind's eye who you were with, and can remember what you were talking about.
No other sense works quite like the sense of smell. And dogs are experts at that sense.
Dogs are smarter than we think they are. A well-trained GSD is about as smart as a 9 yr old kid. Maybe even smarter. They can certainly be trained to understand English -- not just terse commands. And if conditioned correctly, they have a very strong emotional bonding to their Handler. Their social structures and skills are truly astonishing...
...if trained. If not, they can be as dumb as a sack of hammers, fetching slippers and chasing cats and cars and kids on bikes, and peeing on fire hydrants.
Dogs are infinitely smarter, infinitely more resourceful, infinitely more trainable, infinitely better in every measurable way than cats.
How precious! Thanks for posting.
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