Messenger Dogs in the Field 113 



and who have never themselves, tested them, who blandly 

 remarked that they did not believe in dogs. It is this un- 

 receptive attitude to new ideas, that has been at the bottom 

 of so many mistakes of the war. 



" My first turn in action was on the Kemmel front, where 

 the dogs did very well, although the ground was very 

 rough, in fact the conditions were very bad indeed. I stayed 

 there for seven days, and was then relieved, and went back 

 to Corps Headquarters for seven days. Then from there 

 I went to Ypres Ramparts. During my seven days there, 

 my dogs carried very important messages day and night. 

 On one occasion, when with the York and Lanes. Regt., 

 ' Paddy,' one of my dogs, carried a message, when all other 

 means of communication failed. This message was about 

 the artillery. Another of my dogs, ' Prince,' also carried 

 sealed messages. I do not know what they were about, for 

 the signal officer was awaiting the dogs coming in, and 

 took the messages out. The time taken by ' Prince ' was 

 fifteen to seventeen minutes, while ' Paddy ' did it in ten 

 to eleven minutes. The distance was 3! to 4 kilos. The 

 ground was very rough for dogs. ' Paddy ' was gassed 

 here, and still he carried on with his work day and night 

 without fail. After my seven days there I went back to 

 Ypres again, and stayed in for fourteen days with the 49th 

 Division, my dogs carrying messages all the time. Some- 

 times the dogs were taken away in the morning, and 

 released at night, then they would change, and would 

 take them at night and release them in the morning. My 

 dogs ' Prince ' and ' Paddy ' always brought important 

 messages. Most of them were sealed. The signal officer 

 was always eager for the dogs to come in. In fact the 

 officers, N.C.O.'s and men of the division were all interested 



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