Military Working Dogs on Deployment
Bringing Military Working Dogs on deployment brings a myriad of advantages to a mission, but also a few unique challenges. A group of hard working canines and their handlers joined №3 Squadron during its recent mountain flying training in the South Island and stretched their legs in the new environment.
Deploying Military Working Dogs (MWD) is part of Security Forces’ capability, which means extra security is provided and fewer personnel are needed, MWD handler Leading Aircraftman (LAC) Leonie Coleman Avila said.
“It’s just another deterrent around the area and for protecting the assets in a different way.”
The team was deployed to Dip Flat at the base of the St Arnaud Range during the spring chill.
Bringing dogs to work in a different environment was beneficial because handlers needed to ensure they continued to perform the tasks asked of them and do the job in any area, she said.
“Being out here in the bush is great and having distractions is good for training — it allows us to work with all these distractions and have the dogs do the job that they are supposed to.
“It’s also great getting them used to different people and different terrains. Obviously being out here is a lot colder, so they are not used to that and working around a lot more distractions including the rabbits and birds — so for them it’s a whole new place, which is good, so they don’t get complacent,” LAC Coleman Avila said.
And it wasn’t just the people who were given a chance to take on some flying training, the dogs were also given the opportunity to practice being winched into an NH90 helicopter.
“The dogs aren’t used to that — they barely get an opportunity to get in an aircraft, let alone be winched out of one, so to get them exposed to it was good. It’s not a capability we do yet, but if we ever have to do it, we know how and the dogs are capable, so that’s good,” LAC Coleman said.
MWD handler Corporal (CPL) Tom “Ollie” Olsen said preparing to take dogs on deployment involved the same preparation as personnel.
“So there’s accommodation, so we’ve got the steel cages we keep inside tents, food and water. “We also need to bring something to entertain them and that’s more or less the foundations for what you need to take a dog away on deployment,” he said.
Dip Flat is based in a valley at the feet of mountainous terrain. During winter and spring temperatures can dip below freezing, which offers challenges for the unit.
“I came out the other day to find the water frozen over in their bowls. We try to adapt to different environments, but when we come to such a cold place, the water buckets froze so we had to work around that.
“But the dogs liked it, one of the dogs was just chewing it — he liked the ice,” CPL Olsen said.
“It’s good to get away from the unit and explore different areas and it gives the dogs a new environment to train in.”
