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eservoir of the genes we need in our
military working dogs.”
During their third week of developmental
training, Rrespect and
Rruuk panted and squirmed on their
trainer’s leash as they awaited their
chance to search a row of cabinets.
A toy had the dogs’ attention, but
they were equally excited just to
search. Searching is the MWD puppies’
equivalent of a children’s game
of hide-and-seek.
“Most of the dogs work out of
the pure joy of just searching,”
said Bernadine Green, Rruuk’s
foster parent who is also an
experienced MWD trainer and the
interim breeding program manager.
“That hunt drive is so strong;
they take so much pleasure out of
the searching that the reward is
incidental. It’s about the game of
searching.”
Rrespect literally leaps onto a
desk to search one cabinet drawer
for a hidden toy, while Rruuk pulls
the leash held by trainer Arthur
Underwood in his eagerness to
begin the game. When he does, he
quickly sniffs at several intervals in
the row of cabinets before hitting
pay dirt.
Rrespect has a seemingly endless
reservoir of energy that trainers
strive to harness, but one of her best
qualities is her eagerness to work,
her foster parent, Tech. Sgt. Joseph
Null said.
“She’ll low-crawl to work for a
reward, and you can’t teach that,”
said Sergeant Null, who’s also the
military working dog adoptions
and dispositions noncommissioned
officer in charge.
Trainers consider Rruuk and his
brother, Rroddie, the most promising
of the exceptionally strong litter,
even though Rruuk began training
a couple of weeks later than
his siblings. At four months old,
he broke a toe on his left front foot
while running, and had stabilizing
pins inserted during surgery at the
Holland Working Dog Veterinary
Hospital, also at Lackland. The pins
were removed in another surgery
on Jan. 11, so Rruuk was unable to
begin training when the others did.
THERE’s No
TEcHNoloGy
pRovEN MoRE
EffEcTIvE IN
THE DETEcTIoN
of ExplosIvEs
THAN THE
cANINE.
– Dan Whidby
By his third day of training, however,
he had surpassed most of the
rest of the litter.
“Once he healed from the first
surgery,” Ms. Green said, “we went
back into doing basic hunt drive
exercises, searching for different toys
out in different environments like in
the grass, in the fields and in piles of
different obstacles.
“He hasn’t dropped behind the
others,” she said. “His bite has been
developed well enough. His hunt
drive is fabulous. This is a dog that
has lots of character for this kind of
job.”
Ms. Green named Rruuk after her
retired Maryland State Police dog,
who developed cancer and had to be
euthanized two weeks before the “R”
litter was born. Like his namesake,
the puppy has a strong hunt drive
and is eager to work for a reward,
two attributes that are crucial for an
MWD. However, Ms. Green believes
Rruuk is already more aggressive
and shows other qualities that will
serve him well as he progresses in
his training.
“I think this puppy is a little more
bold than my dog was,” she said.
“He’s really forward about challenging
things.”
While Mr. Underwood and his fellow
trainers — Dan Whidby, Corby
May-june 2011 19