4 military working dogs died because of “unsatisfactory kennel facilities,” Pentagon watchdog finds

CBS

Four military working dogs died between the 2021 and 2023 fiscal years because they were housed and trained in “aging and unsatisfactory kennel facilities,” the Defense Department inspector general found, although the Air Force disputes the deaths were the result of neglect.

An Air Force spokesperson said autopsies determined one of the dogs died of severe bronchopneumonia and three died due to extraintestinal pathogenic Escherichia coli pneumonia. The autopsies did not attribute the deaths to neglect, the spokesperson said.

But the Air Force concurs with the overall recommendation in the report to increase the number of caretakers for military working dogs and to develop a plan to upgrade all of the kennel facilities.

The inspector general in a report published last week found the military working dog program did not consistently protect dogs in non-training status “from extreme weather conditions and kennel mold issues, or manage quarantine and isolation areas.”

Investigators visited 12 installations of different service branches with dog programs, including North Carolina’s Fort Bragg, where they found “mold in the light fixtures, ceiling tiles, and equipment room” of one of the buildings. Another building was closed because of mold growth.

In addition to the aging facilities around the country, investigators found a group of about 200 dogs at Joint Base San Antonio Lackland, in Texas — where all the dogs undergo their initial training — did not receive the required amount of physical or social activity because of a caretaker shortage.

Instead of the five hours of physical activity, social, and cognitive enrichment that are required for the dogs each day, the report found the dogs were walked for about 10 minutes, four times a week, or less.

The investigators focused on dogs that were in “non-training status,” meaning they are not awaiting deployment, have a medical disposition, or are in a rejected-from-training status.

In general, the dogs that are in training status receive “sufficient” physical and social activity. At the time of the site visit, the unit had about 230 military dogs that were not in training status.

In total, the Pentagon has over 2,200 Working Dog Teams across 182 locations worldwide and provides dogs to agencies at the state and federal level, the Air Force spokesperson said.

The inspector general recommended that the secretary of the Air Force reduce the number of dogs at the training squadron until there are enough caretakers to provide adequate care, and also said a plan should be developed to upgrade the kennel facilities so that they meet current Defense Department standards.

The dogs at Joint Base San Antonio Lackland showed behaviors like “continuous spinning, jumping, chewing on their metal water buckets, and excessive vocalization,” according to investigators, that were signs of the lack of physical and social activity. They also showed physical signs of heat stress, “including rapid panting with enlarged tongues and ears swept back.”

The training squadron told investigators it lacked the manpower for the required five hours of physical activity but did try to provide some enrichment through “inflatables, audio books, music, and scented bubble machines.” Investigators said this was not sufficient.

In response to the recommendations, the Air Force assistant deputy chief of staff for logistics said the program now is allowing the training squadron to hire more caretakers for the military working dogs and would reduce the number of dogs in “non-training status.”