WWII Military Dogs & Poodles

This postcard is from WWII and shows U. S. Army canine training, canines on sentry duty, and U. S. Army dogs in military formation at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. The caption on the back gives some general information about Fort Snelling but makes no reference to training or dogs.

The images on the postcard imply that Fort Snelling was a center for dog training, but that was not really true. Fort Snelling was not one of the five War Dog Reception and Training Centers that were operated by the Quartermaster Corps during the war. Those centers were located at Front Royal, Virginia; Fort Robinson, Nebraska; Cat Island, Gulfport, Mississippi; Camp Rimini at Helena, Montana and San Carlos, California.

During World War II, Fort Snelling was primarily an induction point for recruits who joined the armed forces. Most recruits stayed at Fort Snelling for only a short time before they were transferred to other military posts for their basic training. Some specialized units, including military police, were trained at Fort Snelling. The army dogs apparently were at Fort Snelling for work with the military police.

The only reference I could find for dogs at Fort Snelling was in a short article from the Greeley (Colorado) Daily Tribune of February 19, 1944 about dogs arriving from Fort Snelling:

Twenty army-trained sentry dogs that arrived here Thursday for use at the Greeley Prisoner of War camp came here from Fort Snelling, Minnesota camp officials announced Saturday. The dogs had been attached to a military police unit at Fort Snelling and this will be their first duty at a prisoner of war camp. The dogs were accompanied by five trainers who will have charge of the dogs. Each trainer will handle four of the dogs. On the way here the dogs stopped at Fort Robinson, Nebr. for a refresher course of training. Most dogs trained for army service are police dogs or shepherd dogs. The dogs here not only are expected to be used for sentry duty but probably will go to the fields this summer with groups of prisoners working on farms.

I found a couple of interesting articles reproduced online about the use of military dogs by the United States during World War II. One article is The Truth About War Dogs by Alene Erlanger that was in The Quartermaster Review, March-April 1944. Another article is Dogs and National Defense written in 1958 by Anna M. Waller that gives the history of war dog training and utilization during and after World War II.

Erlanger was a breeder of poodles, an exhibitor, and a judge of dogs who was one of the leaders in organizing Dogs for Defense and an author of war dog training materials. Her article gives some history and discusses how dogs were being used. At that time dogs (with the exception of sledge dogs and pack dogs) were divided into two groups: dogs for interior guard and dogs for tactical use. The guard dogs included sentry dogs and the police dogs. The sentry dog patrolled with sentries and gave alerts by growling or barking. The police dog (formerly classed as the attack dog) was used by the military police. The tactical dogs included the silent scout dog, the messenger dog, the casualty dog, and the classified dog. The silent scout dog was a "super sentry dog" used by reconnaissance patrols to discover whether an area was free of hostile presence. The messenger dog was used as a runner in place of a man to deliver messages more rapidly and safely. It could also be used for packing limited emergency supplies and a quick means of laying wires over short distances. The casualty dog was used to aid the Medical Corps in locating wounded soldiers.

There were no plans for training army dogs when the United States entered the war. It soon became evident that they could be used for sentry and other work. Their use expanded and included other branches of the service. The next two pictures show Coast Guard Dogs which were used to help guard America's shores and coastline from attempts by enemy spies and saboteurs to land or prowl around.

My family had a standard poodle when I was young, so I found the article about Poodles in WWII especially interesting. That article includes a photo of a black poodle on patrol with the Coast Guard. Poodles were included on the original lists of acceptable breeds of war dogs, though they were eliminated when the list was reduced to five breeds. A 1943 technical training manual included the following section concerning poodles:

52. Standard Poodle. a. General appearance. The Standard Poodle as a military dog presents a far different appearance from the traditionally landscaped Poodle seen at a dog show. He is clipped all over for Army work, and his coat is allowed to grow out to a length of 1 or 2 inches, either all over, or with the face and feet clipped bare. Thus cut down, the Poodle looks like a medium-sized retriever. He stands from 20 to 25 inches high, weighing from 50 to 75 pounds. His coat is tightly curled, very dense, of any solid color. He is a sturdy, squarely built dog, active and poised. b. Special traits. Unusual ability to learn rapidly, good retention, patience, agility, versatility, courage, keen nose and hearing. The Poodle's one drawback is his rapidly growing coat, which is never shed and must constantly be cut down to prevent its becoming matted or knotted, or entangled with foreign matter. Some specimens are too small or too light to be serviceable.

The last two pictures show my father on the shore of Lake Michigan with our poodle Beau, circa 1961. My father is wearing an old Army jacket, and it is not too hard to imagine him patrolling the shore with his sentry dog.

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