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Armed Forces: Dogs

Answer

Military working dogs and their handlers provide a valuable range of specialist roles world wide. When they reach the end of their military service life, it is the Department's policy to re-home all suitable military working dogs, often with someone closely associated with the dog while it was serving. Members of the public can also apply to re-home retired military working dogs and there are currently around 150 people waiting for a suitable dog to become available.

There are currently 1,110 military working dogs in service within the Ministry of Defence. The number of dogs re-homed between January 2010 and 7 October 2013 is as follows:

	Number of military working dogs re-homed
2010	92
2011	80
2012	104
2013 (7 October 2013)	83

It is deeply distressing for all concerned if a dog has to be put down, however this decision is only taken by a veterinarian officer after all other possible avenues have been exhausted and only ever when it is the most humane option for the dog or where there is a considered risk to public safety.

There is no legislative requirement for a legal framework to control the number of military working dogs that are put down, and there are no plans to implement one.

Information on the number of military working dogs that have been put down since 2010, and the reasons for doing so is provided in the following tables:

2010
Reason	Total
Abdominal catastrophe	2
Aged—welfare	48
Chronic skin disease	1
Dangerous temperament	17
Heart failure	3
Injuries sustained in a RTA	1
Malignancy	3
Multi organ failure	1
Musculoskeletal disease	1
Neurological	11
Osteoarthritis	18
Severe chest wound	1
Severe injury	1
Severe ophthalmological disease	1
Severe skin disease	2
Severe soft tissue disease	1
Spinal disease	1
Unknown	4
2010 total	117

2011
Reason	Total
Abdominal catastrophe	3
Aged—welfare	20
Catastrophic bone fracture	1
Complications following trauma	1
Dangerous temperament	11
Heart disease	1
Malignancy	11
Neurological	10
Osteoarthritis	17
Peritonitis	1
Severe ligament damage	1
Spinal disease	2
Unknown	4
Unknown—suspected coagulopathy	1
2011 total	84

2012
Reason	Total
Abdominal catastrophe	2
Aged—welfare	16
Blindness	1
Chronic gastroenterological disease	1
Complications following fracture repair	1
Dangerous temperament	2
Heart disease	2
Internal injuries following trauma	1
Malignancy	6
Metabolic disease	1
Multiple extensive injuries	1
Musculoskeletal disease	1
Neurological	9
Osteoarthritis	22
Ruptured spleen	1
Severe skin disease	3
Suspected neurological disease	1
2012 total	71

20131
Reason	Total
Abdominal catastrophe	1
Aged—welfare	4
Blindness	1
Chronic gastroenterological	1
Dangerous temperament	5
Died—Oral Pyriprole toxicity	3
Heart disease	1
Malignancy	3
Multiple chronic disease processes	1
Osteoarthritis	10
2013 total	30
1 January to June

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

169817; 568 cc412-4W

Session

2013-14

Subjects

Armed forces Dogs

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk