Pearson writes that although dogs helped “sustain the trench system of combat,” they were neither automatons nor humanlike soldiers. More than 5,000 of them died during the last two years of war.
The French Military Canine Service was formed in 1917 in that year and the next, France enlisted some 15,000 dogs. In addition to all these official roles, dogs were also kept as pets and ratters in the trenches by soldiers in all armies.ĭuring the war, there was an increasing institutionalization of military dogs through training facilities and specialized units. After the United States started fighting in Europe in 1917, American bloodhounds were used to locate corpses and land mines. The Belgians, meanwhile, used dog carts to move weapons and supplies. One 1916 German publication estimated that 600 dogs saved more than 3,000 lives in the grim zone between opposing forces. “Armies used them as guard dogs and messenger dogs, as well as deploying them to lay telegraph wires and locate injured soldiers in ‘no man’s land.’” “There were fewer dogs in the trenches, but they performed more varied roles than horses did due to their cognitive skills, physicality, and trainability,” Pearson writes. One 1916 German publication estimated that 600 dogs saved over 3,000 lives in the grim zone between opposing forces.