By Heather Hamilton, contributing writer
Presently, there are approximately 1,600 military war dogs both in the field and assisting in veteran rehab programs — roughly one for every three soldiers. But, as Bloomberg reports, this number is increasingly inadequate given the shift toward terrorism in public areas where bomb-sniffing dogs might be of use. In fact, the Air Force reports that the U.S. military’s dog allotment is 38% of what it was when the war in Afghanistan was operating at full force.
Right now, a trained dog is worth around $25,000, and there simply aren’t enough to go around. They’re best used in high-stakes situations, leaving none available for training medics. Enter TraumaFX, an Atlanta-based unit of defense contractor KForce Government Solutions Inc., who has sold around 80 dog dolls since January.
“We thought we’d sell 50, but it has just grown overwhelmingly,” KForce Vice President Carolyn Hollander told Bloomberg.
The model dog, called the K9 Hero, is about 50 pounds, has a pulse and inflating bag that mimics breath, is capable of bleeding, and costs $20,000. The company is currently developing another model, Diesel, set to release next month. Diesel has gunshot wounds, limbs that can be amputated, bowels that bloat, and he whimpers and barks. Hollander believes that the dogs will help build muscle memory in the medics and handlers who work with them, desensitizing them in training and making them more effective in a life-or-death situation. The dogs are used to train in a variety of ways, including a model to train for jumping from an aircraft, fast-roping, ship-boarding, and harness-carrying and one for medical training, including maintaining an airway, needle decompression/thoracocentesis, hemostasis, IV insertion, intraosseous infusion, CPR, tracheostomy, and bandaging.
A large portion of TraumaFX’s development team comes from Industrial Light and Magic, a shop that assisted in the creation of Star Wars, so both robotic dogs look a little like Chewbacca. These robot dogs are making their way into military and veterinary training programs across the world, but they’re not quite a substitute for the real thing.
Of course, more military dogs would obviously be ideal, and the Air Force has begun a breeding program in Texas, but most war dogs still come from Europe, where military officers travel four times a year.
Dogs undergo $42,000 worth of training to include obedience and drug/bomb detection at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, and some have a second round of training in patrol, detaining an enemy, and attack, which last approximately 120 days. The dogs are a valuable asset, which means there’s certainly potential as far as robotic dogs are concerned.
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