Canis familiaris, or the domestic dog, is defined as a highly variable domestic mammal closely related to the common wolf (1). Humans are believed to have begun canine domestication as early as 100,000 years ago. There are empirical genetic data to back this, however, written documentation outlining the use of canines is found to be inadequate, at best. The domestic dog is represented in sculpture, in Iraq, dating back to 6500 B.C., while bones in the United States date back to 8300 B.C. The dog’s keen sense of smell and advanced ability to hear made it ideal to “work” as a sentry for potential threats. Because of the innate abilities the dog possessed, these functions developed as a natural obligation as its life intertwined with humans. If a dog was sleeping at the door of the home, it would surely alarm those within of any intruder. It was natural. Symbiotic relationships also prospered in both hunting and warfare. Royalty all over Europe are depicted in art and written word, throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance, using dogs to hunt. Peasants, though not engaged in the same sporting hunts as their royal counterparts, often owned and trained smaller breeds to hunt small game, including rodents. As early as the Middle Ages, villagers used bloodhounds to hunt down and apprehend criminals. Carvings and statues in museums and temples in Assyria, Italy, and Britain depict dogs of war and their warrior handlers throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Doctors in ancient Corinth used dogs to assist in the determination of whether patients were alive or dead, using the simple wag of a tail as an alert.

In the United States, The American Canine Corp was started in Seminole War of 1835; this was the first canine corps in the country. Dogs were used as messengers, sentries, and trackers throughout the Civil War. In 1884, at Lechernich, near Berlin, the first training manual was written for military working dogs (MWDs). Germany and Belgium had police canine programs in many cities by the later part of the 1800s. In 1907, the New York City Police Department imported their first dogs from Belgium. With the advent of French Ring Sport in 1909, birth was given to many of the military and police training techniques we use today. In World War I, in using canines to locate wounded soldiers on the battlefield, the French further developed and organized training techniques for MWDs. By World War II, the majority of countries were utilizing dogs in the battlefield environment. By this time dogs were being used to assist in jobs such as sentry, messenger, search and rescue (SAR), patrol, and many others.

The first disaster dogs were trained in England during World War II to sift through the rubble after German bombing raids. By the 1960s, dogs were routinely being utilized in the United States to detect narcotics and explosives, and for patrol and tracking. Accelerant detection
canines (“bomb dogs”) were first used in the United States in 1986, by the Connecticut State Police.

A common, more modern, utilization of canines is in SAR operations (2). Most of the initial groundwork in SAR was done by law enforcement and the military. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has 28 Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams in various locations throughout the United States. These teams use four handler/canine teams on each deployment and are augmented by specialist and equipment for medical, heavy rescue, and technical search response. Volunteer SAR teams have developed across the United States. California Area Search and Rescue Dog Association (CARDA), started in 1976, is one of the largest and oldest in the United States. The growth of such volunteer teams has been nationwide, and currently approximately 125 certified teams exist. These volunteer teams provide local law enforcement (often in smaller municipalities) with skilled canine teams that otherwise would be cost-prohibitive.

Advancement of canine use in the tactical medical environment requires that a consistent and reliable performance is maintained in a productive, yet cost-effective manner. The uses of canines in the setting of terrorism events, mass casualty incidents, and other large-scale tactical operations or consequence management are many.

The use of trained canine teams to identify injured humans in the tactical setting may be beneficial to the overall medical management of the scene. Canine skills, such as detection of ongoing respiration, rafting of cells, and other innate abilities that still defy scientific explanation, may prove very beneficial in the most basic “triage,” the identification of live victims, and extend the SAR functions dogs now perform.

Injured personnel and other victims may be positioned out of the immediate line of sight or positioned in a manner making even the most basic assessment of signs of life challenging. A canine’s ability to rapidly distinguish live versus dead human beings in these potential settings is highly valuable. The ability of the canine to move with agility on varied surfaces may significantly increase the range of area accessible to the medical tactical team.