A day in the life of... a Military Working Dog Handler

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Amber Ashcraft
  • 2nd Bomb Wing Public Affairs
BARKSDALE AIR FORCE BASE, La. --  Imagine walking into your hotel room with a good friend and the first thing he does is begin searching every nook and cranny.

"Looking for something?"

He doesn't answer. Instead, he continues to sniff every inch of the room and underneath the bed. As he comes to a full-length mirror and sees his reflection, he becomes spooked and jumps in the air.

"I just had to laugh," said Senior Airman Andrew Phillips. "I'm sure he was wondering why another dog was in the room when he didn't smell him."

Confused? Don't be. Phillips' good friend is Rico, one of approximately 2,300 military working dogs in the country.

"Rico and I were in Iowa to support the U.S. Secret Service while the president traveled across middle America," said Phillips, 2nd Security Forces Squadron MWD handler. "He absolutely loves to search everything, so it was only natural for him to walk into the hotel room we were staying in and begin the duty he believed he had."

Rico, a two-year old German Shepherd, and his handler, Phillips, have been working together for a short period, but are already preparing for a deployment overseas together.

Though Rico gets to eat with his fellow canine brothers and sisters at 3 a.m., his day starts out a bit differently than the other dogs and their handlers.

"Most of the week is dedicated to our deployment training," said Phillips. "With it being so hot right now, we start fairly early and jump right into practical scenarios we'd encounter downrange and aggression work."

The practical scenarios include roadway sweeps, massive open area sweeps, cache and improvised explosive device sweeps and counter insurgent patrols.

"Then when we move on to aggression and put Rico into a rigorous bite session, we work to increase his obedience while he is in the 'drive'," said Phillips. "When a canine is in the 'drive', he's in a zone of extreme focus on the 'bad guy'. We have to work on keeping him under control with a 'verbal leash'. It's a constant battle because he's worked up and wants loose."

MWD handlers and their canines may deploy once a year and when they're not overseas, training or on special duty assignments, they work regular shifts with their security forces patrolmen.

"Even as a MWD unit, we respond to normal calls as normal patrols," said Phillips. "We just have an additional tool... our canine. At Barksdale, our canines are trained in both explosive and narcotics detection, so they're a huge aide when we're at those kind of calls.

"I've also taken my previous dog to child neglect calls where I utilized her as a psychological deterrent," he added.

Though a canine can be their handler's best friend, they can be a "bad guy's" worst enemy.

"Like I mentioned, we work on a canine's aggression," said Phillips. "They can be excited or calm, but once we give the command, their aggression level rises quickly and they're looking for someone to bite. They're our partners in crime, so to speak, and they're awesome for all types of calls."

"When we roll on scene, even if everything's hectic, the moment everyone sees the canine, the environment immediately changes," added Staff Sgt. Clayton Tebbetts, MWD handler. "The canines have this unwavering affect on suspects and unruly individuals. Their presence makes everyone clam up, calm down."

Even with all the talk of aggressive stances and exclusive training, a MWD handler and his canine become rather close as a team.

"The more you work together, the more you trust each other," said Tebbetts. "You have to have faith in your canine to follow your command and signals, but then again, you as a handler, need to be efficient and knowledgeable on your own call. It takes a special breed of people to do this, it's not a cushy '9-5' job; you put in so many hours working with your canine."

The dogs also have an immense loyalty and a desire to please, added Tebbetts.

"Our canine's substance detection capabilities can't be surpasses by modern technology," he said. "A machine doesn't care if it finds something, but your canine wants to please you so he'll go looking for something on his own, whereas a machine won't."

Despite the busy schedule and seriousness of the job, there's always room for an amusing event.

"While working the road, there was a night I came back to check on the canines," said Phillips. "We have to close the gate behind us after entering, so as I'm walking back to the patrol car, I see this shadow move forward, pick up the energy drink I had in the cup holder and then move back. Zzeki, my first canine, had stuck her head through the gate and went right back into her kennel. I guess she needed some energy."

Zzeki was also notorious for stealing your seat if you left the office for something as small as retrieving paper from the printer, he said.

As every human has their own personality, so does every canine and even while MWDs are known as important military counterparts, they're still dogs at heart.

"Rico loves anything that bounces and he can chew," said Phillips. "Another canine, Marco, likes to head-butt you."

Military working dogs have served our country gallantly in many theaters, from World War II to their role in the war against terror in places like Iraq and Afghanistan and even the "top dogs" of the U.S. Military hold MWDs in high regard.

"The capability [MWDs] bring to the fight cannot be replicated by man or machine. By all measures of performance their yield outperforms any asset we have in our inventory. Our [military] would be remiss if we failed to invest more in this incredibly valuable resource," stated General David Petraeus, the next Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.