Marine Corps Pfc. Brandon St. George with his fellow pupil at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. |
White Lake Marine hones his dog handling skills, could save lives June 27, 2009 It can be a terrifying thing to see a dog streaking toward you across a field, fast and low to the ground, lips peeled back from a mouth filled with huge white teeth. But all Marine Corps Pfc. Brandon St. George of White Lake can think about, as the 80-pound animal leaps toward his arm, is making sure the dog gets a good bite.
The son of Brian and Patty St. George of White Lake is training to become a working dog handler with the 341st Training Squadron, the largest canine training center of its kind in the world.
The squadron is located at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
The Department of Defense Military Working Dog Center has courses that train both new dogs and new handlers to work together as sentries and bomb and drug sniffers.
The human students spend 11 weeks working with veteran dogs learning how to control and understand their future canine partners. The new dogs work with veteran handlers to learn patrol work and to recognize the scents of drugs and explosives and the behaviors that will tell their handlers they've found something.
"I am currently in training to become a military working dog handler," St. George, a 2008 White Lake High School graduate, explained. "We are responsible for going into buildings or on patrols to look for improvised explosive devices and searching for narcotics."
The four-footed students at the center learn to identify the scents of a wide variety of explosives and drugs, many of which are odorless to humans. The dogs also learn how to patrol and are taught "controlled aggression" — when it is and is not appropriate to bite a human and to let go of someone they have bitten, on command and with no hesitation.
For St. George, and others at the center working with canines is a completely different military experience.
"I enjoy that you get to be around dogs all day, the training experience is like no other," St. George said. "Dogs are dogs. They work to be praised or a chance to chew on a toy — that's their drive. You get to build a lasting relationship with that dog and you know that when you need him, he'll be there for you."
Human students at the school learn the basics of their future partners including safety procedures, managing health, the gear they will be using, general record keeping for the animals and the principles of behavioral conditioning.
Then they begin to work with the dogs, learning basic obedience commands for the animals, how to control the animals, procedures for patrolling and searching an area and how to perform as a decoy to keep a working dog in top form.
"These dogs have an extremely important job in the war zone," St. George, who has been in the Marine Corps for nearly a year, said. "A lot of times, patrols won't leave the base if the dog team isn't able to go. These teams save lives everyday in Iraq and Afghanistan. They find improvised explosive devices and make everyone else that much safer."
St. George said he understands that facing ferocious attacks, hammering in constant commands and providing frequent praise will one day payoff with human lives saved on the battlefield.
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