Dogs with Foreign Armies 149 



The principal objection to the vehicle-drawing dog is 



the fact, that good roads are needed to enable them to get 

 their loads along, and pack dogs are, therefore, in m 

 circumstances on the battlefield, the more useful. 



The Italian Army 



The warfare of the Italian Army having been mostly 

 confined to the mountains, it was found that the quickest 

 way of organizing a service of dogs, was to utilize th 

 dogs already accustomed to these regions. These were 

 the large sheep dogs used at all times by the inhabitants of 

 those parts for protecting their flocks, and also their 

 premises. Some of these are very savage, and can be 

 adapted as excellent sentry and guard dogs. Except for 

 these, of which full use was made by the Italian Army, 

 both as sentries and as draught dogs, no other form of 

 training seems to have been initiated. 



The American Army 



The American Army had no official organization whatever 

 for the training of military dogs when it entered the war. 

 On arrival in France, the troops were thankful to avail 

 themselves of the services of the British and French war 

 dogs, whenever they could do so. I may say also, that as 

 far as our own army dogs were concerned, the keepers 

 found the American officers and men very pleasant to work 

 with. That is to say, they recognized that the work was 

 decidedly technical, and, therefore, if success was to be 

 obtained, all must unite in observing the regulations con- 

 cerning the dogs. In this way matters proceeded har- 

 moniously, and much good work was done with the 

 American troops by the dogs. 



It might be as well, however, if the American Ann)- 



