Page 17 - Chiron Winter 2020

The British Army’s Defence Animal Training Regiment
One Dog’s Tale
by N Thomas
On the western edge of the English market town of Melton Mowbray sits
a unique 364 acre Ministry of Defence facility. The Defence Animal Training Regiment (DATR) has existed on this site since 1905 and is part of the Royal School of Military Engineering. Their role is to provide trained and motivated military working animals as well as personnel trained in their handling. They are also responsible for the procurement and retirement of military working animals and provide a veterinary referral and rehabilitation centre to support working and retiring animals.
When working animals are no longer able to work, through age,
ill health or injury, the DATR treats them and helps prepare them for retirement in a civilian setting. State of the art kennels provide a safe and comfortable temporary home to the working K9s while medical issues are addressed and the retraining process begins. Mock up houses allow the introduction of these dogs to things they will meet in a civilian setting, such as tumble dryers, refrigerators and vacuums. Having never lived in a house before, their ability to adjust and function in a new setting is assessed carefully to ensure they will be able to safely make the transition.
Working dogs are a tremendous asset to the military, saving countless lives each year. Despite technological advances, these dogs remain the single most effective weapon we have against improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the enemy’s weapon of choice in places like Afghanistan and Iraq. IEDs are the biggest threat
to life and limb that the men and women of our armed forces face. To fully train a military working dog (MWD) in detection and defence costs tens of thousands of pounds. When they can’t work any more, every effort is made to ensure they have the best retirement possible. The remarkable story of one particular MWD perfectly illustrates the lengths the people at the DATR will go to make sure that these four legged heroes have every chance at a good retirement.
MWD Tek was trained as a dual- purpose K9, to detect a range of explosives and weapons. He was also trained to attack, on or off lead if his handler or team was under threat. Tek fully passed out of his training and was awaiting deployment when his legs gave out during an exercise one day. He couldn’t get back up.
Tek was referred to a specialist veterinary neurologist who diagnosed the rare neuromuscular disease, canine Myasthenia Gravis. His immune system was attacking the receptor cells in his muscles, disrupting the signal from the
brain telling his muscles to move. Unfortunately, this led to a condition called Megaoesophagus, where the oesophagus no longer functions normally. With this diagnosis,
Tek went from being a valuable military asset to being a liability with the stroke of a pen. With tens of thousands already invested in his training, and with zero chance of him ever being able to work again, the financially sound thing to do would have been to put him down. Instead of cutting their losses,
the Ministry of Defence spared no
expense in saving him. They spent many thousands of pounds more on his diagnosis, specialist treatment and rehabilitation while they searched for a forever home for him.
After his diagnosis, Tek was moved to the DATR. When he arrived there, he could not stand on his own. It was a process of trial and error to dial in the correct dosage of his medication so that he could walk again. He’d lost a lot of weight and had to be fed by
hand from a raised position so gravity could help get the food to
his stomach instead of sitting in his oesophagus or worse, going into his lungs. Cpl Andrew Duff was tasked with preparing Tek for adoption.
He said “When I first laid eyes on Tek, he was in the vets and I really didn’t think he was going to make it.” Under veterinarian Maj Carolyn Bates’ meticulous care, however, Tek began the slow road to recovery. He needed to be fed small amounts, and often. He couldn’t walk for
any distance on his own. For the dedicated staff at the DATR, Tek’s recovery was time consuming and complicated, yet they did whatever it took to save him and give him back a decent quality of life. This decision stands out, because once the oesophagus becomes involved, many vets will recommend euthanasia. Few consider that it is not necessarily a death sentence and that it can be managed. The choice to try and treat Tek illustrates how short sighted such thinking is and how, when managed properly, a dog can live a full quality of life with megaoesophagus and Myasthenia Gravis once the initial crisis is over.
Chiron Calling / 15