British Pathe

Night and a soldier walks with his guard dog, an Alsatian, along a wire perimeter fence. CU sign "Warning Guard Dogs on Patrol" pan to an intruder lying on the ground and cutting his way through the fence. He crawls through and makes his way to a brick building. The soldier and dog continue on their...

Night and a soldier walks with his guard dog, an Alsatian, along a wire perimeter fence. CU sign "Warning Guard Dogs on Patrol" pan to an intruder lying on the ground and cutting his way through the fence. He crawls through and makes his way to a brick building. The soldier and dog continue on their patrol. The man looks round a corner and sees a Missile, he writes notes on a piece of paper, cut back to the Missile. The soldier continues his patrol but the dog becomes agitated. WS with the intruder unaware of the dog. The soldier releases his dog with the command "Attack!" and the dog pursues the man and knocks him to the ground. The soldier arrives, calls off the dog and arrests the man, with his notes still in his hand. The dog rejoins the soldier and they take the intruder away. CU's of the dog and soldier as they depart.
The purchase and selection of Army dogs takes place in a rural setting as Alsatians are paraded in front of a military selection team. The dogs are walked around an enclosed area, their teeth, ears and eyes are inspected. They are taunted with sacking while on the leash and subjected to gun fire to test their reactions. The hero dog from the opening sequence is seen driven away in the back of a lorry.
The lorry passes a sign "No 1 War Dog Training Unit". In incoming dogs are placed on a table and inspected. A form is filled in with the dogs name "Barry". Two tin bowls are filled with dog leads, brushes and leather collars. WS as Barry is lead away passed a sign "Isolation Kennels". Experienced dogs are seen marching with their trainers.

In an open field the new dogs are seen walking with their trainers and being pulled back on the lead when they get ahead. The dogs are taught to "heel", "sit", "down", "stay" and "come". Barry passes his test of these commands. The handlers and their dogs parade together. They leave the dogs seated while a sergeant walks another Alsatian among them.

The soldier form the opening sequence picks up Barry from the kennels and he is taught how to groom the dog and prepare his food. Barry is taught to attack a man taunting him and "leave" when ordered. A man in a full padded suit is attacked by Barry and stopped on command. The dog with a mussel on bring a running man to the ground and "leave" when ordered. The dogs are seen relaxing and playing with their handlers in a forest setting. Clearly both are having a good time.

A sick dog is in an enclosure, and a veterinary sequence shows a sick dog on an operation table being treated. Other breeds of dogs are also used in the army as demonstrated with Labradors and other mixed dogs. A black Labrador is seen finding a soldier from the scent of his cap. Another dog is being trained to detect non metallic land mines. A line of trained dogs marches down a high street in Germany, a large lorry passes close to the dogs who do not react.

Continued....