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U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND -- Marines and working dogs with Law
Enforcement Detachment, Command Element, Special Purpose Marine Air
Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command, conducted
controlled aggression training in the U.S. Central Command area of
operations, Dec. 28, 2014.
The training is intended to teach
the working dogs to maintain a certain level of restraint and
precision when they have to attack a target. The dogs are trained to
attack only under necessary circumstances and with a level of force
appropriate to the situation.
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Marine Corps working dogs Max and Akim, from Law Enforcement
Detachment, Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force-Crisis
Response-Central Command, Command Element, attempt to apprehend a
simulated target in the Central Command area of operations, Dec. 28,
2014. The dogs and trainers conducted controlled aggression
training, which is designed to teach them to apprehend and restrain
a target rather than kill or seriously injure.
(U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Carson Gramley)
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“Controlled aggression is being able to use that dog's
natural ability to bite, [and training] them to use that to
apprehend somebody,” said Cpl. Jacob Buck, a military
working dog handler with LED, CE, SPMAGTF-CR-CC.
Buck
explained how a dog's bite can save lives. For instance when
on a patrol entering a compound and a suspect starts to run,
dog handlers can send the dog to apprehend them, sparing
Marines loaded down with gear from chasing them, said Buck.
However, bite
training and tactics aren't the only skills these dogs have
to offer.
Military working dogs can be trained in a
number of different special skills, to include explosives
detection, drugs and narcotics detection, and human
tracking.
“Instead of having Marines possibly in
harm's way and finding explosives on their own, we can find
it first,” said Sgt. Samuel Harris, kennel master with LED,
CE, SPMAGTF-CR-CC. “It's better to have one Marine and a dog
at the explosive than five Marines standing around it,
possibly tripping it.”
The handlers expressed the
important effect that explosive detection dogs can have on
the mission.
“At this point in time, with the kind of
war we've been fighting, explosive training is the most
important thing. That's the unknown, and if we can find the
unknown and continue to do that maybe we can save lives,”
said Harris.
Harris said the relationship between a
working dog and their handler is much like the relationship
a senior Marine would have with a junior Marine.
“You
have to have patience, you can't just tell a dog what to do
and it just goes and does it. You have to take the steps to
train it properly to do what you want it to do,” said
Harris.
Buck said aside from the mentorship and training,
it's nice to just have a dog around.
“My favorite
part of being a dog handler is the fact of having a dog
around,” said Buck. “You can be having a bad day or
something like that, and the minute you see these dogs, it
doesn't matter if you were just there five minutes ago or
away for a month, they're so happy to see you.”
Military working dogs and their handlers continue to train
every day so they can continue to save lives and accomplish
the mission at hand.
By U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Carson Gramley
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2015
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