Service dog welfare part 1: Guide Dogs and Military dogs

So while I am in Austria, I've become more and more interested in animal training and in particular Canid training. There are some very interesting aspects of how to train dogs and wolves and the results of such training.  When think that has been bothering me for a while is how a lot of people assume that service dogs actually have poor welfare standards and never have fun because they work all the time. So allow me to dispel a few of those myths.

Guide dogs: One of the most common misconception regarding Guide Dogs is  that they are forced to work all the time. While I am not an experienced service dog trainer or handler I managed to get some information from Erin. Erin has just graduated with a Ba(Hons) Psychology from the University of Aberdeen and has been involved with guide dog raising for a long time now.  She is an experienced guide dog raiser and sitter and here blogs can be found here(old blog)  and here(new blog). Also, I got to visit a Guide Dog center in Forfar and I got to see Erin dogsit two puppies so I managed to form an opinion. Guide Dogs are not forced to do anything they do not want to do. Granted raising guide dog puppies includes some rules regarding behaviour, food and the way they are raised. No sleeping on the bed, no begging on the table, no feeding them human food is some of the rules that Guide Dog charities have in place for their pups and it's some rules that a lot of people have  for their pet dogs.

And in regards to the myth that these dogs are forced to work, if a puppy doesn't want to work it doesn't have to. There are dogs that enjoy working and dogs that don't. Those puppies who make it clear that they do not want to be a Guide Dog are dropped from the program. Often times, if the puppy’s temperament isn't right for Guide work then they will be offered to other service dog organisations. If the puppy simply does not like working, then the guide dog school will find a home for them as a pet. In the U.S.A and U.K puppies that don't make it as guide dogs are not put down but instead given a loving home.

Most Guide Dog schools are really familiar with the issues that arise from inbreeding and  often try to ensure genetic diversity within their breeding dog stocks. Guide Dog schools  have really strict breeder evaluation programs to ensure the health and wellbeing of future generations. There are international breeding exchange programs to ensure that the genetic diversity within the breeding stock remains.

One of the biggest myths about Guide dogs( and all service animals) is that they don't get to play. When the harness is on, it's work time. When the harness is off it's play time or chill time.  The dogs know the difference too and it's reflected on their behaviour.  The puppy I got most exposed to was Marco (pictured above). When he was out of "uniform" he was pretty much a regular dog. He runs, jumps, plays with toys and is in general a basket case. When the jacket or harness was on, he was a different dog.He was focused and alert. Granted, Marco is still a puppy and like all puppies he makes mistakes and gets too excited sometimes. But that's why it takes up to 2 years to fully train a Guide Dog. The fact that these dogs can distinguish working and playing time is remarkable.

Military dogs: I've never had much hands on experience with military dogs but I have read a lot about it and I managed to talk to a few people who owned ex military dogs or even active service marines and their canine companion. Everything said about Guide Dogs applies to Military dogs and in fact all service dogs. The only difference is that military dogs have their life on the line. Despite that, the military dogs are not expandable. Soldiers would never send the dog forward to get shot and would never risk the dog's life to save their own. Although dogs are instrumental is several operations such as clearing houses, tracking bombs, smelling insurgents, guarding locations and so forth, military dogs are highly valued due to their training. It would be stupid to spend money and time training a dog just so it would get shot  instead of a soldier. They are of course in risk of injury or death much like the men that handle them and whether or not that should be the case is tricky. The animal is taken care of, only does a limited service and then is retired. From there on it depends on each individual's ethical perspective. For what is worth I think dogs have their own value in warfare and if they aren't abused or misused then it is definitely an interesting relationship.

Military dogs however have a much stricter training regime. They have longer training times, different kinds of training is used on them and some are obviously trained to be aggressive. Not only that but they are exposed to explosions, loud noises, bullets, injuries etc and much like humans, dogs can suffer from PTSD. Is this a welfare violation? Should dogs not be exposed to such situations? Well pretty much like every other dog, military dogs only work if they want to work and they can leave the program anytime they want. Also dogs are retired if they demonstrate signs of PTSD. Is this something that is right to ask of a dog? Well yes in my opinion. Dogs were domesticated to be used by humans and this is one use for them. Given the love they get from their Marine handlers, the often comfortable retirement situations they get and the usually low risk jobs they perform I would say that military dogs have a good welfare or at least as humans in that situation do. It can be argued that dogs don't make the active choice that humans do to join combat and the military and that to an extent is true. However they are exposed to explosions, noises, gunshots etc before they are sent to service and can always opt out if they don't want to.

In the next article I will be discussing police dogs and search and rescue dogs and their relative welfare.

Wolf Science Center week 3 update

So I am on my third week here in the Wolf Science Center and I decided to update all of you on some of the happenings here.

First of all I got myself a project. I am aiding a PhD student here in inequity aversion in wolves and pack dogs. Inequity aversion essentially boils down to whether wolves or dogs understand that they are being treated unequally and whether or not they do or feel anything about it. It's a very interesting subject and the more I read into it the more I get excited about the results we might yield. The person I am working with (all people remain unanimous unless they say okay) is great. She knows a lot about the subject, lets me do hands on work and she knows exactly what she wants. I am very glad about that.

As a side project I am doing wolf observations on my free time. This is to ensure some data to comfort my advisor back home. There is a lone wolf here that is currently being introduced into a new pack and my aim is to observe any relationship changes/conflicts that happened to the back after the wolf introduction. At the moment the wolf has been introduced to two of the three pack members and things are looking good.

What is very interesting here is training and the methods used. Although we aren't told much, some of the students decided to shadow a few of the trainers and I got taught a few very interesting things about training and in general animal behavior. I think animal behavior is definitely something a lot easier to understand when the subjects you are studying are not just in theory but rather present.

In addition to that I began work on my dissertation. It is probably too soon given that I have no idea of results or data collected yet but I started my research and the basic introduction stuff just to give myself a heads up.

I think the most important thing that made the transition here really easy are the students. Everyone here is great. It's a great company that bonds easily and there have been many interesting conversations between us. We share many things in common but are still diverse enough to have different view points on things and it's interesting to see biology and animal behavior from other schools and other perspective.

Three weeks have past faster than I thought and soon we will begin collecting data and I look forward to it. I will go in depth about certain aspects of what I learned soon.