MWD handlers pause for training

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Stephanie Englar
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Every day, military working dogs are deployed around the world to accomplish the Air Force mission by serving in a variety of roles such as tracking, search and rescue, or bomb detection. Their role is paramount to keeping Airmen and communities safe, but what happens if a military working dog gets injured? That is where the highly-trained military working dog handlers come in.

Military working dog handlers from Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, Keesler AFB, Mississippi and Little Rock AFB, Arkansas, received training from Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine and the United States Army Veterinary Corps Aug. 23 at the MSU campus to learn how to provide initial treatment to military working dogs in case of injury.

"The handlers learned how to bandage injuries, how to provide CPR and how to put catheters in," said Army Capt. Teresa Villers, Veterinary Treatment Facility Officer in Charge. "They are also learning the basics such as what to look for when it comes to wound care, how to know if something is an emergency, and how to take action properly."

Tech. Sgt. Thomas Blandino, 14th Security Forces Squadron Kennel Master, said the dog handlers from Columbus AFB do quarterly medical training, but this is the first time they are doing this type of training with MSU.

"The MSU training has more doctors and subject matter experts, as well as people who have different life experiences specifically in veterinary care," Blandino said. "The training is focused on treating injuries we don't commonly cover in the quarterly training."

Blandino said this training is important because it teaches military working dog handlers the initial care skills they need to keep their military working dogs alive when out in the field and a there is not a veterinarian present.

"Each handler, whether they have been a handler for a year or a handler for ten years is going to need to know what to do if their [military working] dog gets injured to treat them until they can get to that medical cache," Blandino said.

The training began with a series of lectures that trained the handlers in everything from normal K-9 parameters to healthy hydration status and triage.

"This training is very important," said Staff Sgt. David McDonald, 19th Security Forces Squadron military working dog handler. "Our main role as a dog handler is to get out in the field by ourselves and operate as a dog team. We don't usually have the opportunity to have a vet with us, so we have to be able to provide care to the dog in the field because it might take hours or even days before we can get the dogs to a doctor."

The training ended with hands-on training that included how to bandage injuries and perform CPR.

Dr. Elizabeth Swanson, assistant professor of small animal surgery, participated in the hands-on portion of the training and said that she thought this was a great training opportunity between MSU and the dog handlers.

"For us, [this training] is a great way to give back for the service of the dogs and their handlers," Swanson said.