Page 231 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021
P. 231

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
British Army in Northern Ireland, with a focus on the use of dogs. Due to manpower cuts (post conscription), financial cutbacks and the ending of the Vietnam War, the Australian Army was questioning the need for dogs. There was a distinct lack of direction. The Centre was in existence to retain some of the expertise in the use of MWDs and so built on multi-task dogs. Shaw had observed a handler from 3 Royal Australian Regiment with a multi-purpose Tracker/Patrol/Guard dog. At this time, this was an interesting concept for Sgt Shaw considering that it was not practised in the UK. A multi-role dog was never deemed as good as a dog trained to focus on just one discipline.
Sergeant Shaw travelled extensively visiting the Army, Air Force and Civil Government Agencies. His first visit, accompanied by Major Brian Thompson RAVC, was to the RAAF Dog Training School at Toowoomba. At this location, the RAAF afforded one dog and one handler who worked as a team throughout their Service, consequently, the overall standard was high. The Army’s practice was one of rotating its soldiers on a regular basis which led to the dogs having numerous handlers in their career. The training regimen at Toowoomba was almost identical to that of the RAVC – the course period was twelve weeks with an emphasis on obedience before any other specialism training. The dogs were paraded each morning, and the parade was followed by an exercise period on a type of treadmill!
Army Aviation Centre (Strategic Airfield) at Oakey was the location of the next visit. The base had recently been the subject of several incidents. Both Thompson and Shaw had discussions with the Officers and men, after which they suggested a Dog Section be based there. In order to test this, Thompson and Shaw suggested a night Exercise where they would act as ‘intruders’ while trainers and dogs from Toowoomba guarded the sight. The night was a success for the RAVC men, and the event received the attention of the local television network. Much interest was generated in the RAVC with the Australians suggesting that a senior NCO exchange would be useful.
The following day, a brief visit was arranged to 2 Field Engineer Regiment. Major Thompson and Sergeant Shaw discussed dogs and their use in security with the head of Counter Intelligence in Queensland.
The next visit was to the Customs Dog Section at Mascot International Airport, Sydney. This unit had recently employed a Drug Dog Section comprising two dogs; its success meant that number rapidly became twelve. The handlers had been trained by the army at the School of Military Engineering, Casula. Shaw found this a rewarding experience as he had had little contact with Drug dogs. He picked up some useful information, for example, there were up to six hundred
items of luggage on a Jumbo Jet which required a quick turnaround for bag collection; the dogs could complete a full search in a very short time.
The principal dog users in the Australian Army are the Royal Australian Engineers. The focus is on mine detection which evolved out of the high casualty rate among the Combat Engineers in the Vietnam War which was due to the use of non-metallic mines by the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army. Hostilities ceased before the Unit became operational but, at the time of Sgt Shaw’s time on Ex LONG LOOK, the Unit was still active.
Initial training is a mix of US and British Army methods with the principal reward system of food. The Australians use a breeding programme, and the puppies are trained to link the location of explosives to the reward of food. However, dogs tend to lose interest altogether from twenty weeks old when performance from then on can be disappointing. Sgt Shaw comments on how the British use food reward early on in training, though this discontinues as training develops – older dogs need other stimuli and if they are not hungry, then they are less efficient. The Australians were surprised that the RAVC train dogs from fourteen months old to obviate the factor of immaturity in the dogs. He comments that a breeding programme is very labour intensive with dogs prior to training and still, after that, there is no guarantee of a high percent success rate. Shaw also noted that the Australian dogs appeared nervous as they were bred and lived in kennels with little exposure to everyday activities and stimuli such as noise, sights and smells.
The stay culminated in an Exercise where Sergeant Shaw and Major Thompson acted as assessors. They observed an almost total lack of obedience training – instead, the dogs exercised in packs which appeared to destroy the handler/dog relationship. As mentioned earlier, there was no continuity of training as the handlers are Engineers on a posting of two-three years.7
Overall, this long running Exercise which still runs today – though sadly interrupted for two years due to the Covid 19 pandemic (2020 – 2021) is considered invaluable and deemed worthwhile with its aims being achieved in all respects. The programme continued with several Australian Army Officers and NCOs, with the most likely beneficiaries being the dog trainer/handler related trades. Such exchanges should be offered NCOs as this is where the exchange of TTPs and others will benefit reciprocating parties, which have, over the years, included the RAVC at Melton, the units in Germany and more recently 1 MWD Regt.
1980s:
In response to a Parliamentary question the Defence
  7 Extract from DAVRS Historical Record, ‘Report on Exercise Long Look,’ 10th August – 4th December 1976 by Sgt Eric V Shaw RAVC.
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