Table of contents

Part I: War Dogs Through History
1. War dogs of old
2. The modern war dog movement 1870-1914
Part II: Colonel Richardson’s Airedales
3. Colonel Edwin Hautenville Richardson: A brief biography
4. An uphill battle
5. The British War Dog School is born
6. British war dogs in France
7. The dogs
8. The training
9. The heroes
10. Epilogue: World War II
Appendix A: Description of dogs shipped from England to France and the men who brought them
Appendix B: Casualties to dogs
Appendix C: Unregistered dogs and the men who brought them
Appendix D: Casualties to unregistered dogs

Description

This is the story of one man’s struggle to develop the British War Dog School. Richardson began experimenting with military and police dogs in 1898, and in 1910 began petitioning for a British military dog program. He finally received official approval with support of officers who were unofficially, and successfully, using his dogs in the field. Over 2000 dogs were trained and sent to the front to work as Red Cross dogs, messengers, sentries and patrol dogs—the lives saved were estimated in thousands. Cummins recounts not only Richardson’s struggle, but also the history of war dogs through the ages. This book formed the basis for the documentary Dogs of War on the BBC series Inside Out, broadcast in 2006.