British War Dogs – The Beginning

Edwin Hautenville Richardson was born the youngest of three boys. His father was a farmer. The Richardsons were all dog fanciers, so Edwin, along with his two brothers, grew up with a large number of pets. As a young boy, he first attended school at Cheltenham, where his favourite study was natural history. It was there that he first heard of dogs being trained for military purposes in the Continental armies, which he noted, "aroused in me great interest". After leaving Cheltenham he was sent to Hanover and Dresden to learn German and then to Switzerland for French tuition.

He started studying canine history and the use of dogs in warfare, by the ancient Greeks and later the French, during Napoleon's time. After Europe, he attended Sandhurst and passed into the Sherwood Foresters; after retiring from the Regular Army, he joined the West York Militia.

Edwin married Blanche Bannon, "a lady who adored all helpless things, dogs, babies and flowers". They bought land for farming at Carnoustie on the east coast of Scotland. It was there that they were able to pursue their mutual interest in dog training.

In 1900, Richardson began to train dogs for military purposes in a tentative way. He described how he came to take up the work. "It was in 1895, while shooting on a friend's moor in Scotland I took notice of a 'foreigner' buying a sheepdog from a shepherd and learned that the man was a German, sent over by his government to purchase large quantities of collie dogs for the German Army. I was told that these dogs were found to be excellent for the work required, and that they had nothing in Germany, which could compare with them. The collies we found were useful in any teaching which entailed a seeking out and return to a given spot. This would be due to the generations of sheep dog ancestry when the animal's intelligence is always trained outwards, tending after the sheep but always returning to the shepherd."

A Collection of the Richardson's Farm Collies

During the summer months, the officers at the nearby army camps at Barrie and Buddon, helped unofficially by allowing Richardson to bring his dogs to experiment with their men, while they were training. The soldiers enjoyed the exercises, as the ambulance dogs carried a small flask of spirits in their saddlebags which, according to Edwin, needed to be refilled quite often!

"We conducted a good many experiments at night, as well as during the day; and I was able to judge where there were weak spots in my training and to make alterations."

Some of the officers in command of the camps at different times were impressed enough with the results to send in reports to the War Office on their own initiative requesting that an enquiry should be held as to the wisdom of official recognition of war dogs. Nothing came of these requests.

It was Edwin’s unerring determination and dedication that led to the foundation of the first British War Dog School at the beginning of The Great War. When the war opened, in 1914, there were practically no military dogs of any sort attached to the British Army. The sole exception was an Airedale which was trained as a sentry, went on manoeuvres with the 2nd Battalion Norfolk Regiment and, on the outbreak of war, accompanied it to France. He was eventually killed by a shell on the Aisne.

The War Office finally contacted Richardson and asked if he would form an official training school for war dogs. Within a week, the Richardsons had closed down their house, stored their furniture and left for Shoeburyness along with their dogs, which at the time were mostly Airedales. Blanche Richardson and some of the trainees

These he turned over to the government, and they became the first official British war dogs to go to France.

Very soon, large numbers of dogs were collected from all parts in preparation for training. They came from private donors, in response to a War Office appeal, and from the Dogs' Homes; very soon they had well over 500 dogs in camp. At the end of the first month, thirty trained dogs were sent out. They were mostly collies, some Airedales and retrievers...and mixed.

Very soon, the school started to run out of room for all the dogs and the space needed for training all the handlers and their canines.

Some Airedales were trained for sentry and patrol work. At the same time, it appears that many officers were writing to the War Office, asking that dogs should be supplied officially for several purposes. In the winter of 1916, an officer in the Royal Artillery asked if dogs could be trained to carry messages. Two Airedales, Wolf and Prince, left for France on the last day of 1916, and went direct to Thiepval.

The dogs settled down successfully, and began to carry messages regularly.

The first report on these two dogs said, “During the operations against Wytschaete Ridge, two messenger dogs were sent forward at 1 am. One was attached to the forward liaison officer and one with the group forward observation officer. After being led up through communication trenches during darkness, they went forward as soon as the attack was launched, passing through the smoke barrage. One was dispatched at 10.45 am and the other at 12.45 pm. Both dogs reached brigade headquarters, travelling a distance as the crow flies of 4,000 yards over ground they had never seen before and over very difficult terrain. The dog dispatched at 12.45 pm reached his destination in under an hour, bringing in an important message, and this was the first message which was received, all visual communication having failed".

There were two other reports on these dogs.

"When the Germans withdrew their line in the spring of 1917, the dogs were taken up the night before to a wood east of Bucquoy. They were then sent up to a forward observation post, 4,000 yards to the east of the wood, and were released with important messages. They found their way back through masses of troops on the march, to the wood, although they had only arrived there the night previously, and the ground was quite unknown to them."

"On the attack on the Vimy Ridge the dogs were employed with an artillery observation post. All the telephones were broken, and visual signalling was impossible. The dogs were the first to bring through news."

Men were at first recruited in France from battalions whose commanding officers expressed a wish to have dispatch dogs and they attended a five week course then took the dogs overseas. The best results were obtained by withdrawing all the dogs with their keepers from the separate battalions, and forming a unit.

A central kennel was formed at Etaples and dogs with their keepers were posted to sectional kennels behind the front line. Each sectional kennel was in the charge of a sergeant, and had about forty-eight dogs and sixteen men allotted to it. From these sectional kennels the dogs were sent, with their keepers, in the proportion of three dogs to one man, to the active sectors. The dogs were then taken away from their keeper and led up to the front line. The keeper remained at brigade headquarters, watching for the dogs' return, and ready to deliver the messages they brought to the officer commanding. Very careful regulations for the correct management of the messenger dogs and their keepers were drawn up and issued. This method of concentration and supervision soon began to give excellent results.

In the meantime training proceeded steadily at the War Dog School at Shoeburyness, and class after class of trained men and dogs were sent overseas, where they were concentrated, in the first place, at the central kennels before being distributed to the sectional kennels.

As the demand for fighting men increased, large numbers who had been doing guard duty all over Britain were withdrawn. Dogs acted as guards at munitions factories, magazines, and vulnerable points of all kinds.

At the same time, a request was received for sentry dogs for use with the troops at Salonika.

They were to be used in the listening-posts in the front line to give warning of enemy approach.

With these increasing demands on the school, the supply of suitable dogs was becoming inadequate. At first the only supply was from the Home for Lost Dogs at Battersea. Then the Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol and Manchester Dogs' Homes were invited to help by sending any suitable dogs to the school. Many homeless, deserted strays were saved from death, and transformed into useful members of His Majesty's Forces. Later, the Home Office ordered the police all over the country to send all stray dogs of certain breeds to the school. Finally, when even these sources were not sufficient, the War Office decided to appeal to the public for gifts. The response was generous. The country was, at this time, passing through especially serious times, and many people were only too glad to help by sending their dogs. The food shortage also was much accentuated, and it was felt that the family friend would be certain to receive good food and care in the Army.

Some of the letters received at this time testify to the unselfish spirit in the country. A lady wrote, "I have given my husband and my sons, and now that he too is required, I give my dog". From a little girl, "We have let Daddy go to fight the Kaiser, and now we are sending Jack to do his bit". An "Old Contemptible" said, "I have been through Mons, and have lost a leg and nearly lost my life, and have not much I can give my country, but I gladly give my dog to help". A sportsman sent his lurcher, with the remark, "I am sending you my dog Sam. He has always found his own grub and has plenty of sense so should be of use". Sam did not have to find his own grub any longer when at the school, but he nevertheless earned it.

Many of the dogs were fine show specimens, while others of humble ancestry nevertheless came with wise faces and willing hearts. They were one and all welcome, and were made to feel so. In most cases they were bewildered and sometimes homesick for a short time, but as it was found that reassuring, kindly human voices were all around, and that excellent dinners were going, they soon felt at home. Added to this, life offered companionship with other dogs, and also a completely new experience in what seemed to the dog the learning of a new sort of game. Each recruit was carefully tested for messenger, sentry, or guard work. Sometimes they failed in one but succeeded in another, but all had a good chance to show some sort of initiative. In the event of a dog showing no desire for work of any sort it was returned.

Everything by this time was going with a swing. A large number of men and dogs were being turned out fully trained, and the available training-ground at Shoeburyness was becoming too congested.

A site was chosen on Matley Ridge, above Lyndhurst where the training went on satisfactorily until May 1919.

During that month the school was moved to Bulford, on Salisbury Plain.

Field-Marshal Haig, in his final dispatch on the war, paid a tribute to the work the messenger dogs did in the field.

Reference: British War Dogs, Their Training and Psychology by Lieutenant Colonel E H Richardson, late Commandant of the British War Dog School, 1919, Internet Archive.