Imported K9s

Sergeant Adrian Robson with Dorf, a new recruit from Germany. Photo by CPL Errol Jones

TEN foreign immigrants have become the latest recruits to join the Military Working Dog School at RAAF Base Amberley.

Six male and four female German shepherd and Malinois dogs from Belgium, Holland and Germany arrived from RAAF Base Richmond by Hercules on January 13 after being released from six months quarantine in Sydney.

The imported dogs were among 13 purchased last year after a specialist recruitment team from the MWD School travelled to Europe to select candidates for the ADFs new breeding program.

Five will be used as breeding dogs at the school and eight as soldier dogs out in the field.

The difficulty in recruiting suitable dogs from within Australia led to the decision to introduce a foreign breed with the right traits to fulfil the future needs of the Air Force and Army. Under the new breeding program, dogs with the same bloodlines would be purchased from Europe every 2-3 years.

The Commanding Officer of the RAAF Security and Fire School, Wing Commander Dale Watson, said while the new breeding program would take a few years to produce results, the European dogs were perfect for the program as they would bring strong fresh bloodlines to the military working dogs of the future.

“All of the dogs we’ve purchased have had training in tactical work and exhibit strong traits in prey drive, retrieval drive and defence drive,” WGCDR Watson said.

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