no British War Dogs 



references of the new line taken up. This dog, also ' Bruno,' 

 dog No. 72, did many other good runs. I have omitted 

 to state that the distance which ' Jock ' carried previous 

 mentioned messages was 5 kilos.— times ranging from 

 twenty-three to twenty-eight mins. (5 kilos=3| miles) 

 over rough ground swept by machine-gun and shell-fire." 



Keeper Shayler, who gives the following report, was one 

 of the earliest men to be trained. The whole messenger 

 dog service owes a debt of gratitude to those loyal keepers 

 who gave their whole mind and energy to overcoming great 

 obstacles in the first few months, when the work of the dogs 

 was hardly understood at all by those in the field. It 

 will be observed, from his statement, how much easier 

 it was for both dogs and keeper to work, where they were 

 received with sympathy and interest. 



" After one month's training of Messenger Dogs at 

 Shoeburyness, I proceeded to France on the 13th July, 1917, 

 with two dogs, one an old English sheep dog, ' Betsy,' 

 and an Airedale, ' Jim.' Landing at Le Havre, we en- 

 trained for Poperinghe, Belgium. I reported to the 14th 

 Corps H.Qrs. After four days there I went forward to 

 Brig. H.Qrs. at a village named Elverdingh. This place 

 was heavily shelled, but the dogs ran very satisfactorily 

 for the first time under shell-fire. I stayed there for about 

 seven weeks. I then reported to the 19th Corps H.Qrs. 

 and then went forward to Ypres. I stayed there for two 

 months. My dog * Jim ' was killed by a shell. He had 

 been a good reliable dog. At this time of the Dog Service 

 it was uphill work for both men and dogs, there being no 

 one directly in charge in France. From Ypres I came out 

 for a rest. The next move was to Flesquieres, near Bourlon 



