Dogs with Foreign Armies 356 



VI.— Administration of the Messenger Dog Servk e 



in a Regiment 



The number of dogs not kept for service purposes should 

 be strictly limited. Stray dogs (especially bitches on heal 

 easily lead messenger dogs to refuse to work. Officers and 

 men should have this explained to them, and also the 

 object and use of messenger dogs. 



Only those principles of training and working mesa n 

 dogs taught at Messenger Dog Sections are authoritat , 

 Officers and men should be forbidden to have any dealii 

 with the dogs, or to interfere in the execution of their 

 training. Intentional troubling of dogs by the troops 

 should be strictly punished. 



In the case of a dog giving up, the attendant himself 

 should be used as a runner. In any case, the attendants 

 should be employed solely in the Signal Service, e.g., as 

 pigeon attendants, at pigeon stations. 



In no case may messenger dogs be used for other pur- 

 poses than transmission of information. 



The men composing an attendant file should not be 

 changed. 



A dog will only work in a trustworthy manner between 

 men of a file who are instructed and known to it. ' »n 

 emergency, the trained supernumerary attendant takes 

 his place in the file." 



It will be observed from the last paragraph the serious- 

 ness with which any interference with the dogs at work by 

 the troops was viewed, and that it was to be regarded as a 

 strictly punishable offence. The regulation also, that n 

 the dog failed in bringing in a message, the keeper was 

 to be used as the runner to replace it would certainly 



17* 



