militarydogs
While the Air Force trains military working dogs and their handlers, Army veterinarians posted around the world help keep them fit for duty and treat their ailments.
Telemedicine, so popular in the civilian health realm, is being used to provide expert consultation for military working dogs. "We want them to stay in the field and be treated in the theater," said Army Maj. Kelly Mann, chief of radiology for the Military Working Dog Program at Lackland Air Force Base facility.
In addition, Rolfe and his staff operate a fully equipped veterinary hospital at Lackland.
As working dogs become increasingly important to the military mission, work is under way to help protect them from enemy threats. Rolfe oversees a research and development program that's looking at improved body armor and gas masks for military working dogs.
No good method exists to protect a dog from a nuclear, biological or chemical attack, he said. "But it's definitely something being looked at," he added. Meanwhile, the Walter Reed Institute of Research is studying the use of pills that can help military working dogs survive a nerve-agent attack.
Research is also under way to create an "artificial nose" capable of duplicating a dog's ? but Rolfe predicts it's a long way down the road. "Some people say it could be 50 years before we'll have an artificial nose that can replace a dog," he said.
Besides, dogs possess something Rolfe said a machine probably never will: immense loyalty and a desire to please.
"A machine doesn't care if it finds something," Rolfe said. "But a dog wants to please its handler. A dog will go looking for something on its own where a machine won't."
The bottom line, he said, is that "dogs have a heart ? something that makes them an invaluable asset to our fighting forces."
Telemedicine, so popular in the civilian health realm, is being used to provide expert consultation for military working dogs. "We want them to stay in the field and be treated in the theater," said Army Maj. Kelly Mann, chief of radiology for the Military Working Dog Program at Lackland Air Force Base facility.
In addition, Rolfe and his staff operate a fully equipped veterinary hospital at Lackland.
As working dogs become increasingly important to the military mission, work is under way to help protect them from enemy threats. Rolfe oversees a research and development program that's looking at improved body armor and gas masks for military working dogs.
No good method exists to protect a dog from a nuclear, biological or chemical attack, he said. "But it's definitely something being looked at," he added. Meanwhile, the Walter Reed Institute of Research is studying the use of pills that can help military working dogs survive a nerve-agent attack.
Research is also under way to create an "artificial nose" capable of duplicating a dog's ? but Rolfe predicts it's a long way down the road. "Some people say it could be 50 years before we'll have an artificial nose that can replace a dog," he said.
Besides, dogs possess something Rolfe said a machine probably never will: immense loyalty and a desire to please.
"A machine doesn't care if it finds something," Rolfe said. "But a dog wants to please its handler. A dog will go looking for something on its own where a machine won't."
The bottom line, he said, is that "dogs have a heart ? something that makes them an invaluable asset to our fighting forces."
