116 British War Dogs 



nearly two hours. After being transferred to the Messenger 

 Dog Service, I did not go up the line again, as I had suffered 

 severely from shell-shock, and my health gave way. 

 Ramsey took ' Paddy ' and I have no doubt at all that he 

 is one of the best dogs that ever went to France." 



Keeper Alcock gives an account of a very nice collie he 

 had: 



" Re No. 140. This dog went over the top with three 

 or four Brigades of Australians on several occasions. One 

 occasion in particular was when an attack was made on 

 Villers-Bretonneux on the Somme. He came back with 

 a dispatch ' Urgent ' which contained the details of the 

 attack, — a distance of 4^ kilos, in 18 minutes. There was 

 very heavy shell-fire at the time. While in front of Douai 

 this dog advanced roughly seven miles, and brought the 

 only message received when Douai was captured, as all the 

 wires were broken. He completed his journey in 55 

 minutes. The other dogs I had were taken out in attacks 

 and did good work also. I am sure they must have saved 

 a large amount of life." 



Another of the men was Keeper Corporal Coull. He 

 took a very intelligent and conscientious interest in his 

 work, helping to educate public opinion, as well as working 

 the dogs. He states : 



" Directly under my personal care were ' Buller ' (Aire- 

 dale), ' Trick ' (collie), and ' Nell * (setter bitch). At the 

 outset ' Buller ' was somewhat inconsistent, but in a very 

 short time he blossomed out into a very fine working dog, 

 and did some very fine running. He carried messages, 



