Military canines: Contrast and comparison across countries
Abstract
Canines are utilized in the military across many countries including the United States, Australia, and Britain. However, the specific purpose, breed, and training of military canines differ slightly across these countries. The goal of this research is to conduct a systematic literature review of various databases which include information pertaining to the purpose, breed, and training of canines in the military across multiple countries including the United States, Australia, and Britain as well as analyze the history of canine use in the military branches within those countries. Research has shown that the most common breeds used today in the military, across the United States and Britain are the Belgian Malinois, German Shepherd, and Labrador Retriever, while in Australia instead of focusing on a specific breed, they select a dog based on certain traits and tendencies that are optimized for their particular role. The prominent roles military canines fulfill include bomb and drug detection, security, patrol, and tracking in each of these countries. The training of these dogs varies based on their specialty, and the duration of official training is different in each of the listed countries. Highlighting these aspects of canines in the military brings attention to the importance of their role in the line of duty as well as the comparisons and differentiations of usage across various countries. The results of the systematic literature search after excluding studies that did not meet the criteria were 27 articles appropriate to use in this literature review across the Oklahoma State University library databases.