250 British War Dogs 



authorities devoted a certain amount of attention to this 

 subject, in view of the fact, that it will, in the future, be 

 increasingly difficult for America to remain outside the 

 responsibilities of the civilized races of the rest of the 

 world. A year or two before the Great War, when the 

 American Army was sent down into Mexico, it struck me 

 that dogs would be exceedingly useful to their troops at 

 that time, and hearing that an American staff officer was 

 in my neighbourhood, sent over by the American Govern- 

 ment to inspect some new form of searchlight, I took the 

 liberty of seeking him out, and laid before him certain 

 suggestions, which I was certain would be of great use to 

 the American Army for the war in Mexico. He asked me 

 to make a full report, which I did, with maps and illus- 

 trations. I, however, never heard anything more of the 

 matter. It would have been well, had the American War 

 Office taken up the subject seriously then, and they would 

 have been prepared to supply their troops with trained 

 dogs, when the great testing time of the nations came. 



The German Army 

 There is no branch of the German war machine that 

 reveals the thoroughness of enemy organization down to 

 the smallest details in preparation for this great war that 

 was expected to place Germany on the pinnacle of success, 

 than the method in which the dog-power of the country 

 was organized as an auxiliary to the army. For some 

 years the Government had encouraged the institutions 

 for training military dogs, and these were' open for all the 

 world to see. But there was much more behind this, which 

 did not appear to outsiders. For one thing, the large 

 organization of police dogs, was a camouflaged system of 

 service, always available in the event of war. Besides 



