Messenger Dogs in the Field 83 



portant operations and many urgent messages. On dark 

 and stormy nights they were invaluable, and the time 

 in which they did their work was approximately the same 

 as in the daytime. The average speed of the dog was 

 one-half to one-third of the time taken by runners in the 

 daytime, and at night still less. Runners have come in 

 cut and bleeding from barbed wire and other obstacles 

 after having been lost for several hours in the darkness, 

 while the dogs have come through safely and without 

 delay. 



I here give some statements of the work of the messenger 

 dogs in the field, which were sent to me by the keepers 

 when the dogs first went overseas. I have already stated 

 that the importance of their work was not properly under- 

 stood by either officers or men of the regiments to which 

 they were attached, nor in the army as a whole. Later, 

 when the real service they could render came to be under- 

 stood, and when the regulations governing the dogs began 

 to be enforced, all ranks were much more ready to assist 

 the dogs. One of the most important rules for the troops 

 to observe was to refrain from enticing or checking a dog 

 on its journey. 



Keeper Goodway, who was one of the earliest men to be 

 trained and to go to France, mentions the difficulty for 

 the dog by this regulation not being properly understood. 



" The two are doing well, the Black Lurcher Bitch 

 especially, she is splendid, takes no notice of the guns or 

 anything ; they have both been running regularly day and 

 night this last fortnight from advanced H.Q., to the rear 

 — they used to do it in about 7 or 8 minutes where it takes 

 a man over half an hour. The officers think they are 

 splendid, and I know they have sent in a good report. One 



6* 



