Sunday, March 13 marks the 74th anniversary of establishing
the K9 Corps in the US Army or the National K9 Veterans day.
In 1942 the American Kennel Club helped create “Dogs for
Defense,” a civilian group that trained dogs as sentries to help patrol US
coastline. The US Army approved the experimental program and created the K9
Corps.
The K9 Corps initially trained 32 different breeds, by 1944
the number dropped to seven.
Military dogs are usually non-commissioned officers one
rank higher than their handlers. According to CNN, some say this is meant to
prevent handlers from mistreating their K9 partners.
The Army used about 1500 dogs during the Korean War and
about 4000 in Vietnam.
