BAGHDAD, Iraq (Army News Service, Sept. 25, 2003) - U.S. Army Military Police soldiers renovated an abandoned torture chamber, and the cells are now air conditioned, clean and filled with dogs.
Reservist Sgt. Emily Frasca, a police academy instructor with the 382nd Military Police Battalion, from San Diego, Calif., helped kick start the new Iraqi canine unit. Along with other soldiers in her unit, Frasca teaches classes at the police academy in Baghdad. When someone asked her to help with the canine unit, she jumped at the opportunity.
"I love working with dogs," said Frasca. "And when they offered me the opportunity to be the liaison for the trainers and coordinate with the 18th MP Brigade to get equipment for these guys, I saw an opportunity to share what I know and what I've learned."
The canine unit is quickly progressing. The Iraqi trainers are learning new methods of training, and the dogs are multiplying -- one German shepherd has already given birth to five pups.
But the Baghdad canine unit has not always received this kind of support. Before the war, the canine unit was moved to a facility outside of Baghdad. Here, the trainers received very little support. They lacked the money to buy training equipment, vaccinations and training manuals. Frasca said that the unit became so out of touch with the other police officers that they eventually became ineffective.
"The trainers were cut off from money and other dogs to breed theirs with," said Frasca. "They ended up inbreeding the dogs and working with the older training styles. They started training dogs that weren't fully capable of being police dogs."
After the coalition forces became involved with the Baghdad police force, they decided to bring the canine unit back into Baghdad. They cleaned out one of the old prison facilities and transformed it into a kennel for the dogs.
"When I saw the old torture camp, I looked into the cells and saw the potential for a kennel," said Frasca. "We turned the prison into a 13-room kennel, with an office in the back and a room for trainers to stay in overnight, so they could protect the dogs."
Aside from coaching the trainers on new methods of training, Frasca also helps assess the animals for strong and weak points. The dogs are then chosen for specific job training, such as bomb detection, attack or narcotics. If, for example, a dog has a favorite toy as a puppy, it is easier to train that dog for bomb detection.
"We look for the love of a toy," said Frasca. "This makes it easier for us to instill sniffing behaviors. We can test the dog to find the ball in a bush or in rubble. If they have a good sniffing behavior, it is easier for us to carry that behavior into searching patterns later on."
Frasca says the dogs are also learning a new language. Because Frasca teaches in English, the Iraqi trainers bark English commands to their canines. In a way, this provides the trainers and their dogs with a coded language.
"This allows police officers to communicate with their dogs without the (Iraqi) locals understanding," said Frasca. "And in some situations, this can give us the upper hand."
(Editor's note: Sgt. Mark S. Rickert is a member of the 372nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.)
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.