Book Review: Soldier Dogs, by Maria Goodavage

I anticipated the publication of Soldier Dogs for a long time. Not only am I a working dog nerd (which yes, extends to military working dogs) but I also read Dogster.com daily, and Maria Goodavage is the news editor there. When I didn't win Dogster's giveaway for the book, I ordered it through the library to check out and looked forward to its arrival. I'm leaning towards buying it; I really did quite like it.

Goodavage covers the stories of several military working dogs and their handlers. She also goes to Lackland Air Force Base and talks to instructors there, which was really very interesting. There's a great picture in the book of her wearing a bite sleeve, "catching" a dog!

Throughout the book, Goodavage looks at the criteria for selecting a military working dog, and the types of personalities these dogs tend to have. She relates these things to her own dog, Jake, a rescued yellow lab, trying to figure if Jake himself would have been a good MWD candidate. I thought this was a nifty way to go about it, and  found myself asking these questions about Elka as well. Granted, the military tends not to use Dobermans any longer; their thinner coats apparently don't do well for them in the sun blasted arenas of America's most recent warfares. In fact, Goodavage doesn't cover the Doberman much at all, which was a bit disappointing, since she does touch on the history of dogs in warfare, but I guess as they aren't really relevant present day, it can be understandable. That's what the book Always Faithful was for anyway.

The book wasn't all the wonderment of discovery, of course. Very real cases of injury and death were also related, the facts stated well and not in an overdrawn or dramatic manner. If I thought about running away to be a Marine dog handler, I certainly thought again. They have civilians that help out with that kind of thing sometimes, though, don't they? Maybe not. I do know that Lackland Air Force Base does foster their Malinois puppies if one lives within three hours of the base, so if I ever move to Texas, that's something to consider.

Soldier Dogs was, overall,  a good book. I only had one point at which I read something and thought "well, I don't think that's right". It was when training was being discussed, and Goodavage said that "most" trainers nowadays are getting away from food rewards, which isn't necessarily true.  Not that I disagree with the use of toys as motivators for working dogs; it works, even if you don't have the specific toy. I imagine some toys are higher value than others, the same way treats are, but I'm  happy to see a more motivational driven training than coercive one. Or one that I interpret as more motivational, anyway. Edited to add: "most trainers" is meant to mean "most military trainers". Civilian trainers are where my frame of reference was and I misunderstood.

Oh yeah. And I ordered Elka a pair of Doggles.

P.S. Remember to support the Canine Members of the Armed Forces act.

Edits: Originally I said "Camp Pendleton" instead of "Lackland Air Force Base" in two instances. Also, when referring to treats in training, I meant civilian wise, not military, as I know nothing about military training. Sorry for errors and confusion!