Courtesy Photo | Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Jordan Morales stands next to Military Working Dog Orca at...... read more read more
JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-LACKLAND, Texas --
Sniffing out the source of danger comes naturally to Military Working Dogs. The MWDs that come to mind are fierce Belgian Malinois that leap over barriers to uncover perpetrators and gritty German Shepards who chase down the enemy. However, the U.S. Navy’s secret four-legged weapon weighs less than 25 pounds.
Jagdterriers are a small dog breed originating from Germany and known for their hunting prowess, high intelligence and earnest loyalty. In the Department of Defense, these tenacious terriers are utilized for their acute sense of smell to detect narcotics and explosives in small spaces.
The U.S. Navy values these four-legged fighters for their ability to snoop through narrow compartments on compact submarines, ships and aircraft carriers. Small dog breeds like Jagdterriers and miniature labs, who meet the necessary size, height and length requirements are brought over 5,000 miles away from Europe to Texas. As assets in the MWD community, they are required to be trained and sculpted into scrupulous military members at the hub of the MWD enterprise: the 341st Training Squadron.
“This is the heart of the Military Working Dog program,” said Master-at-Arms 1st Class Garrett Moore, who is also an MWD instructor. “Because this is the production center and the training center for the entire DOD, except for the Coast Guard. Even the Transportation Security Administration utilizes Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland to train all their dogs.”
MWDs start to learn the specialized skills they need to succeed in their jobs at the 341 TRS from their early days as puppies into adulthood.
In order to get the opportunity to train MWDs and future MWD trainers at the 341 TRS, service members with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force participate in a highly competitive selection process to come to the 341 TRS, according to Moore.
“Here you have some of the most, if not the most, passionate instructors and dog trainers that the DOD has to offer, because this duty station for us is not one that we're told to come to — we have to fight to come here,” Moore said. “So not only do we have to select it and request it, we have to submit an application, and our program manager has to approve us to come here. There's a lot of steps.”
The 341 TRS is the only place where service members, other than those in the U.S. Navy, work with small breeds to qualify them for detection. However, since the need for small breed dogs is based on the needs of the U.S. Navy, the small dogs arrive sporadically on the compound to be trained.
MWD trainers who are up for the challenge, jump at the chance to cultivate the small breeds for military service when the need arises.
“That's what makes this so unique here is that, when we do get them, they’re such a rarity,” said Bobby Toal, MWD lead training instructor supervisor. “You need to know what you're doing with the small breeds in order to get them through this process. So, when they do come through here, everybody wants their opportunity to train with them, because it's such a small community as well.”
Toal arrived here in 2010, as a U.S. Navy MWD Master Trainer and continues to mold MWDs in his civilian role as the lead training instructor supervisor at the 341 TRS. For 14 years and counting, Toal has worked with small breeds, designing detailed training plans for MWD handlers to implement.
He advises three teams of roughly seven MWD trainers with about 18 dogs per team. Under his supervision, countless dogs and trainers alike have gained valuable skills.
Toal has had a hand in training every drug dog that currently supports the U.S. Navy’s mission, which includes all the small dogs, said Moore, calling him the “grandfather of small breeds.”
Small breeds are notoriously hard to train, according to Toal, due to their vigorous energy, short attention spans and the specific standards they need to meet in under 60 days.
Getting the small breeds through their qualification course is no easy task, according to Tech. Sgt. Amadio Apilado, a MWD Trainers Course instructor who qualified the most recent class of small dogs at the 341 TRS in February.
“At least from what we were told about the history of small breeds, because of how they're trained, compared to the bigger dogs — the German Shepherds or the Belgian Malinois — the success rate was actually 50%,” Apilado said. “So, it was a big challenge.”
However, for the last few groups of small breeds, the MWD trainers at the 341 TRS qualified all of them in under 45 days, exceeding expectations.
Working with MWD trainers from across the different military branches to qualify the small breeds for narcotics detection opened Apilado’s eyes to the nuances of training MWDs — how dog behaviors vary among different breeds and how to cater training plans to specific dogs.
Most importantly, Apilado learned how communication is the key to building a beneficial team dynamic.
“You know, I was a dog handler, because I didn't like to talk to people,” Apilado said. “I had to learn to communicate. And I think it helped me, doing that training with them.”
The experience working with the small breeds, on a diverse team of individuals from different military backgrounds, inspired Apilado to become an MWD instructor, imparting his newfound knowledge onto the next generation of MWD handlers.
Since most MWD trainers will never get the chance to work with small breeds, Apilado values the time he spent on the team. Especially, since the impact he made in Texas on a tiny terrier named Tery reverberates through his own hometown an ocean away in Guam.
“Knowing that my dog, I trained, is in my hometown, and is doing the mission there — is an awesome feeling for me,” Apilado said.
He consistently hears positive feedback from the service members in Guam about how Tery excels at his job.
Toal said he believes that an MWD trainer’s name forever goes with the dogs they transform into warriors.
“Your dog speaks volumes for what type of trainer you are,” Toal said.
The small MWDs that have come out of the 341 TRS so far, have reflected excellence back onto their trainers.
“It's more than just Airmen — we have civilians, Marines, Army, Navy and Air Force,” said Toal, about working with his fellow service members. “It's not a joint command, but this is one of the few places where all dog handlers come together and our mutual passion is met, on a day-to-day basis of doing the thing that we love to do, which is to train dogs.”
| Date Taken: | 08.19.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.06.2024 11:31 |
| Story ID: | 480252 |
| Location: | LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 76 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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