Dogs as Workers

Since dogs first shared their lives with man they have played an important role in the human world. These roles have undoubtedly changed with man's lifestyle, but many uses today are much the same as they have always been, merely adapted to suit modern circumstances. Even now, many farmers consider their dogs of just as great assistance as they did decades ago and rely on their canine workers to assist them in tending their flocks and herds.

We know that the dog has long been used as a guard and today little is different, but the role has been developed a stage further as dogs are not just used in security work but also in police work, some trained as sniffer dogs because their scenting abilities can be put to good use in detecting drugs and other illicit goods. A fine opportunity to observe dogs displaying their many talents is to visit Crufts where every year a wide variety of skills are demonstrated in the main rings. Besides the displays of Guide Dogs for the Blind and Hearing Dogs for the Deaf there are remarkable Gundog displays showing off the skills of dogs which have been trained by their handlers to search out and retrieve game in the testing environment of the field. Perhaps surprisingly there is even a regular display of Duck Herding when one can enjoy watching the dog using his wits against the vagaries of duck behavior.

At Crufts there is also a Terrier display where one can watch terriers of various kinds chasing a lure at incredible speeds, true terrier character shining through all the while. The excellent Police Dog displays demonstrate very well the rapport between dogs and handlers and reconstruct some of the operations encountered in police work, including working amidst gunfire.

Jobs for dogs
Germany was the first country to use dogs in wartime but Britain followed some years later. Our canine friends were of enormous value in relaying messages across enemy lines and helped to transport ammunition and casualties, both canine and human, by pulling especially designed carts. The use of dogcarts has long since been abolished in Britain, but transport by this means is still within the living memory of some and was used extensively, especially on the European mainland.

In frozen climes, dogs have provided valuable service in pulling sleds and many a human life has been saved when dog meat has, of necessity, been eaten in arctic conditions. The dog's reputation as a rescuer is also put to good use today in search and rescue work so once again it is dogs we have to thank for saving more human lives.

The hunting instinct
Hunting packs are covered in a later section there are many dogs of different kinds which alone. Although this is an activity very much :ed upon by many, hunting dogs have, over the centuries, been legitimately used to provide food sustenance for their owners, often where life is under difficult conditions, such as in the Australian outback where the Kangaroo Hound has usefully employed. Some breeds have also been effectively used against dangerous predators such as the lion and wolf although wolf hunting was taken to extremes, leading to the decimation of the wolf population, there were undoubtedly many instances in which dogs used for this purpose were put to legitimate use.

Vermin hunters
Dogs have also been used to hunt vermin which would otherwise have caused considerably more damage than was the case. Most terriers are renowned for their ability to catch rats, something which is less of a problem now than it used to be, largely thanks to modern science. However, there are intriguing stories of old buildings being demolished and rats emerging in their hundreds, bringing into perspective how very important it was, and still is, to keep down the rat population.

In the Americas, dogs were employed to hunt the raccoon, something which had to be done at night because raccoons are nocturnal animals, and the 'coon dogs had to enlist centuries of training to match the wits of their prey. Wild boar, mink and many other animals have of course also been hunted by dogs and it is understandably difficult to draw a strict line between what, through the years, has been true work and what has been effectively sport. Sadly, one cannot help but reason that what was once valuable work performed for highly legitimate purposes has been turned into sport, hence causing the decimation or serious decline of various species of wild animal. None the less, in a dog's mind I doubt that any 'work' was born of malice, the dog has merely carried out the work required of it, in many cases work which it has been trained to do and which has become instinctive over time.