Messenger Dogs in the Field 129 



route, taking him out a short way and letting him go 

 at once, and then repeating at greater distances till his 

 final station is reached. After that, he should be retained 

 for, say, an hour before being released, and subsequently 

 the time of retention should be increased until he will 

 return to where his keeper is by day or night after 12 hours' 

 stay at his forward station. 



This training to a particular route takes some time and 

 trouble, and should be done both by day and night, and 

 the extent to which it is necessary will depend somewhat on 

 the intelligence of the dog. The keeper should be able 

 to give information on this point. 



7. To ensure success in getting dogs to return from the 

 forward station to the keeper it is essential that : — 



(i.) The dog or dogs should be led up on a chain by 

 a man who is a stranger to the dog. 



(ii.) At the forward station the dogs should be kept 

 chained up ; if possible, they should be sheltered from 

 wind and weather, and they should be given water but 

 no food. 



(iii.) The men who lead up the dogs should not 

 make friends with them, and the dogs should on no 

 account be petted or made much of. 



8. Dogs should not be kept at a forward station for more 

 than 12 hours away from their keepers ; consequently, not 

 more than one keeper and his three dogs from any one Group 

 should be on duty at the same time. After a period of 

 12 hours the keeper and his three dogs will be replaced 

 by the remaining keeper and his three dogs of the Group. 

 During the 12 hours a dog is on duty he can, after making 

 a run back, be again sent forward as often as opportunity 

 offers for leading him forward. 



After a tour of seven days in the front line (during which 



9 



