Why dogs are shot after retirement?

We often witness acts of bravery committed by police and army dogs all across the world. In fact, police and armies of numerous countries have dedicated canine (K9) units. Such dogs are treated like soldiers, trained, even given medals. They specialize and work in various fields, such as bomb/explosive detection, infantry petrol, tracking, guarding bases, casualty detection during some disaster, etc.

Every dog has a dedicated dog handler, and they work like brothers-in-arms. But these disciplined forces have to retire their soldiers after a certain period, and dogs are no exception.

However, unlike humans, in most of the cases retirement for dogs mean death. They are put down after they cross a certain age and/or are declared unfit for service. But why?

On the face of it, it seems like an unnecessary cruel practice, and maybe it is. It feels like an act of ingratitude. By the way, dogs are not alone in the way they are treated after retirement. Even army/police horses in many countries are put down once they are released from active duty.

Let’s try to explore the reasons behind this (inhumane) practice, and see if there are some exceptions or alternative retirement options that can be explored.

Why are military/police dogs killed after retirement?

In reply to an RTI filed in 2015, Indian military replied that performance of military dogs is regularly evaluated, and the dogs that fail to pass the set criteria are given humane euthanasia, i.e. they are put down in a gentle manner.

So, once military dogs are rendered unfit for service, they are given a forced retirement, which is a milder way to say that they are killed, even if they have some years left and are not very old.

But our basic question remains – Why?

Here are a few of the probable reasons:

• In war and military, there’s no place of emotions. Decisions are taken in cold, calculated, rational manner. Keeping dogs alive after retirement will lead to excessive waste of money and man-hours, which can be used elsewhere.
• Military dogs are very much aware of the military base, and if they fall into the hands of some enemy spy, they may divulge much confidential information regarding location of strategic assets.
• Military dogs are highly trained, and often trained to kill. So, they cannot be left alone, or released in the wild in civilian areas. Military dogs are big, aggressive dog breeds, such as German shepherd, Labradors, etc., and not sweet, little, cute dogs like Palmerian! (Nowadays, Indian army has also started using local, desi dog breeds.)
• The lifestyle and care military dogs get cannot be matched by most of the civilians and NGOs.

However, the above practice was there in Indian army only till 2015. Now, only those military dogs are put down that suffer from some serious, untreatable disease, that is causing pain and difficulty to the dog.

Other retired dogs are sent to retirement homes, wherein they are taken care of pretty well. One such old age home for retired canine soldiers of India is located in Meerut city of Uttar Pradesh (their training centre is also in Meerut). Some such dogs are even kept in training centres. (Similar old-age home for military horses has been established in Uttarakhand)

Note

Average age of military dogs is a bit lesser than normal dogs anyways. Though average lifespan of a dog is 12-14 years, but military dogs die a bit early due to the rigorous schedule of military life, and the adverse ill-effects on their health due to hazardous work, such as explosive detection, drug-detection, etc.

Winding Up

The practice of putting down canine soldiers is still followed in many countries. If such a practice is still being practiced in your country, then kindly raise your voice and put pressure on the authorities to stop it.

Dogs love us a lot and are loyal to the team or the family they live with. The least we can do is to take care of them in their old age when they need us the most.

A Personal Anecdote!

How a man, a society, or a country treats its animals says a lot about them.

One of my relative abandoned his aged dog – kind of kidnapped him at the night so that the rest of the family could not know, and left him miles away from home. He did not like dogs, but abandoning such an aged, helpless dog was such an act of cruelty that I lost all confidence on him.

When he told us about this deed of his later (as if it was some smart act he pulled), I knew at that moment that I can never trust him!