Mercy dog

A mercy dog (also known as an ambulance dog, Red Cross dog, or

casualty dog) was a dog that served in the military, most notably
during World War I. They were stationed on the front-lines after a
battle had ended and went across no man's land between trenches to
find wounded soldiers. They carried first-aid supplies to wounded
soldiers. They would also comfort mortally wounded soldiers before
they died. They were trained by the Red Cross society that was based
in the country of each army to bring supplies, food, and reassurance to
soldiers and return to the medical center with a piece of the soldier's
uniform and lead a medical soldier to the soldier. The German army An ambulance dog in World War I
called such dogs 'sanitary dogs' and the United States did not have
such a program. As many as 10,000 dogs are estimated to have served
as mercy dogs, and they are credited with saving thousands of lives.

Contents
Description
World War I
Later programs
Gallery
See also
References
Bibliography
External links

Description
A typical mercy dog in World War I was outfitted with a saddlebag that had water, liquor, and first aid
supplies. They were trained by the Red Cross society that was based in the country of each army to travel
silently around no man's land,[1][2] typically at night[2] or after a battle had ended,[3][4] looking for wounded
soldiers and ignoring dead ones or enemy soldiers.[5] When they found a soldier, the soldier could use the
medical supplies to tend to their wounds.[2] If their condition was severe enough that this was impossible, the
dog would return to the trenches with a piece of the soldier's uniform and lead a paramedic to the soldier.[1] If
the dog was unsuccessful in finding a wounded soldier, it would lie down in front of its handler instead of
leading the handler to them.[5] Some dogs were fitted with gas masks.[5]

Dogs attached to Allied Powers were trained to take a piece of uniform and those with the Central Powers any
item, including a helmet or particularly a belt.[5][6]:25–26 Some dogs were also involved in pulling soldiers on
carts between the front lines and medical bases further back.[2] Mercy dogs were known to drag soldiers to
safety at times.[1] The dogs would also comfort mortally wounded soldiers as they died.[5][7] A military
surgeon praised the dog's abilities to triage wounded soldiers, saying "They sometimes lead us to the bodies
we think have no life in them, but when we bring them back to the doctors [. . .] they always find a spark. It is
purely a matter of their instinct, [which] is far more effective than
man's reasoning powers."[8]

The German army called such dogs 'Sanitätshunde',[9] or 'medical

dogs'.[2]

World War I
The first mercy dogs were trained by the German army in the late
1800s.[9] A program to train mercy dogs in 1895 begun by Jean
Bungartz in Germany was described as a "novel experiment".[10] By
1908 at least Italy, Austria, France and Germany had programs
training mercy dogs.[11] By the beginning of World War I Germany
had around 6,000 trained dogs, many of which were ambulance dogs.
The nation is estimated to have used a total of 30,000 dogs during the
war, mainly as messengers and ambulance dogs. 7,000 of those dogs
Painting by Alexander Pope of a red
were killed in the war.[12]
cross dog carrying a soldier's helmet

Upon the outbreak of fighting, Britain did not have a program for
training military dogs. Edwin Hautenville Richardson, an officer in
the British Army who had experience working with military dogs and
had advocated for the establishment of a military program since 1910,
trained several dogs as ambulance dogs and offered them to the
British Army. After the army did not accept, he gave them to the
British Red Cross.[13] As a result of his advocacy, Britain created a
British War Dog School with Richardson as the commandant. The
school eventually trained more than 200 dogs.[14]

The Allied powers used at least 20,000 trained dogs.[5] As many as

10,000 dogs are estimated to have served as mercy dogs in World War
I, and they are credited with saving thousands of lives,[2] including at
least 2,000 in France[6]:25 and 4,000 wounded German soldiers.[12]
Several such dogs drew specific attention for their work, including
Captain for finding thirty soldiers in one day, and Prusco for finding
one hundred men in just one battle. Both were French dogs.[2] While
many European nations had a mercy dog program during World War
I, the United States did not,[2] as its leadership felt the war would end
soon enough that such a program was unnecessary. Many US dogs A military recruitment poster
did serve in the Red Cross.[13] Dogs that were trained by the Red
Cross bore the red-cross emblem on their saddlebags.[6]:23 However,
many French dogs were killed and that nation's program was discontinued.[12] Some dogs may have had
traumatic stress as a result of their service.[8]

As a result of their service, mercy dogs were considered symbolic of patriotism; Jill Lenk Schilp writes that
they were "elevated to heroic levels and attributed human emotions and characteristics."[15]

Later programs
In the lead-up to World War II, it was reported that the German Army was 'conscripting' dogs to serve as
messengers, watch dogs, and mercy dogs.[16] During that war, the United States Army Medical Corps used
ambulances with six casualty dogs, mainly Pointers and Setters, to find wounded soldiers.[17][18] Its training
program began in August 1942.[19] The United States Army utilized a casualty dog program during the
Korean War to find wounded soldiers. German Shepherds were used for the work, which consisted of
searching for a soldier and bringing their handler to them. The dogs were trained at Fort Riley, Kansas.[20]
After World War II ended the American Red Cross began a therapy dog program, which it continued until at
least 2019.[5]

A historical fiction book, Darling, Mercy Dog, was published in 2013.[21]

Gallery

A casualty dog A German Red A Red Cross The collar of a

reporting to its Collie Red Cross dog.
Cross dog
handler during seeking Sandy, a Red
US Army wounded Cross dog.
training soldiers
exercises.

See also
Search and rescue dog
Dogs in warfare

References
1. Rogak, Lisa (2011-10-25). The Dogs of War: The Courage, Love, and Loyalty of Military
Working Dogs (https://books.google.com/books?id=YaDZvJVtJcYC&pg=PA47). Macmillan.
p. 47. ISBN 978-1-250-00881-7.
2. Campbell, Jeff (2014-10-07). Daisy to the Rescue: True Stories of Daring Dogs, Paramedic
Parrots, and Other Animal Heroes (https://books.google.com/books?id=rUnCBAAAQBAJ&pg=
PA274). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 274. ISBN 978-1-936976-62-1.
3. Orlean, Susan. "Hero Dogs" (https://www.newyorker.com/culture/susan-orlean/hero-dogs). The
New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
4. Hoare, Philip (2018-11-07). "The animal victims of the first world war are a stain on our
conscience" (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/07/animal-victims-first-worl
d-war). the Guardian. Retrieved 2020-12-21.
5. Schilp 2019, pp. 14–15.
 6. Jager, Theo F. (1917). Scout, Red Cross and Army Dogs: A Historical Sketch of Dogs in the
Great War and a Training Guide for the Rank and File of the United States Army (https://books.
google.com/books?id=hCUwJ8dyzcYC&pg=PA23&dq=ambulance+dog+army&hl=en&newbks
=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjX3vjStt_tAhXIpFkKHa6bBNgQ6AEwAHoECAIQA
g#v=onepage&q=ambulance%20dog%20army&f=false). Arrow printing Company.
7. "Where man's best friend was not just his dog". The Irish Independent. 17 May 2014 – via
ProQuest.
8. Schilp 2019, p. 20.
9. "The Dogs of War". The Birmingham Mail. 15 February 2014.
10. "Red Cross Dogs". The Youth's Companion. August 1, 1895 – via ProQuest.
11. "The Red Cross Dog". The Washington Post. 19 July 1908. p. E12 – via ProQuest.
12. Cummins, Bryan D. (2013-11-07). Our Debt to the Dog: How the Domestic Dog Helped Shape
Human Societies (https://books.google.com/books?id=0esAAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT205&dq=%22a
mbulance+dog%22+world+war&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjZ0
tHsvN_tAhUCo1kKHfaPAAcQ6AEwAXoECAUQAg#v=onepage&q=%22ambulance%20dog%
22%20world%20war&f=false). Carolina Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-61163-556-0.
13. Schilp 2019, p. 16.
14. Schilp 2019, p. 17.
15. Schilp 2019, p. 20.
16. "German Dogs Now Being 'Drafted' for Three Kinds of War Service" (https://www.newspapers.c
om/clip/65739841/german-dogs-now-being-drafted-for/). The Knoxville News-Sentinel. 1939-
11-12. p. 2. Retrieved 2020-12-21 – via Newspapers.com .
17. "Dogs stand up to battle strain better than men, says trainer" (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/
65740234/dogs-stand-up-to-battle-strain-better/). The Beatrice Times. 1944-03-23. p. 6.
Retrieved 2020-12-21 – via Newspapers.com .
18. Dept, United States War (1943). War Dogs (https://books.google.com/books?id=9KEM3d7Yqg
EC&pg=PA127&dq=casualty+dog%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahU
KEwjv9KGktt_tAhXL1FkKHVkcBR8Q6AEwAXoECAEQAg#v=onepage&q=casualty%20dog%
22&f=false). U.S. Government Printing Office.
19. "Messenger, Attack and Casualty Dogs Are Trained to Aid the Armed Forces" (https://www.new
spapers.com/clip/65742980/messenger-attack-and-casualty-dogs-are/). Lansing State Journal.
1943-10-31. p. 16. Retrieved 2020-12-21 – via Newspapers.com .
20. "Casualty Dogs" (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/65739953/casualty-dogs/). The Ithaca
Journal. 1951-06-28. p. 22. Retrieved 2020-12-21 – via Newspapers.com .
21. "Darling, Mercy Dog" (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alison-hart/darling-mercy-d
og-of-world-war-i/). Kirkus Reviews. September 15, 2013.

Bibliography
Schilp, Jill Lenk (2019-09-24). "The Mercy Dogs of World War I". Dogs in Health Care:
Pioneering Animal-Human Partnerships (https://books.google.com/books?id=Rl6yDwAAQBA
J). McFarland. pp. 13–24. ISBN 978-1-4766-7394-3.

External links
Uncle Sam has a Training School for War Dogs (https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/191
7-08-26/ed-1/?sp=30&st=text&r=0.61,0.783,0.149,0.18,0)
The Dog In Modern Warfare (https://archive.org/details/acd6136.0041.001.umich.edu/page/37
0)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mercy_dog&oldid=999107005"

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