Page 22 • The HERALD • 24th August 2023 v SAY YOU SAW IT IN THE HERALD v PVCu FASCIAS & GUTTERING CLEANING SERVICE Gutters checked for leaks and repaired Also new installations Driveway, Patio and Decking Cleaning and Restoration Service Very reliable and fully insured Good Rates and Professional Service Special Rates for OAP’s Call us now for a free quote Holbury 07884 112416 Acorn Building Contracts Ltd u Reliable, local builders offering affordable, quality workmanship u Our employees are fully qualified and fully insured u All aspects of building undertaken including extensions, structural alterations, roofing, ground works, kitchens, bathrooms, carpentry and plastering u Drawings arranged u Insurance work undertaken u Local Authority Approved Contractor For free quotations and friendly advice please call Office: 023 8024 3336 Mobile: 07786 656865 Email: acornbuilding@gmail.com or visit our website: www.acorn-builders.co.uk You will not be disappointed The Square, Fawley, Southampton SO45 1DD T: 023 8112 3112 E: office@zebra-ltd.co.uk All Plumbing Works Undertaken Full Bathroom Installation Toilet Fix from £75 Fully Insured Free Quotes No Job Too Big or Too Small PLUMBING & BATHROOMS How Dogs Trained for War in the New Forest by Marc Heighway, mheighway@hotmail.com But what does this have to do with the New Forest? e story starts in Essex, where a War Dog Training School was set-up at Shoeburyness Artillery School. By the end of the First World War, it was felt that the dogs had performed with enough promise that training should continue to see if their success rates could be improved. e aim was to develop their canine military skills and have a group of dogs ready for service in case war broke out again. However, the school soon outgrew the Essex site, and moved to the New Forest in 1918. e new location for the War Dog Training School was Matley Ridge near Lyndhurst, on the site of what had previously been a Trench Mortar School. It was the perfect location, as there were existing trenches that could have been used to help train the two hundred dogs brought to the forest location. e dogs were trained whilst being exposed to the sights and sounds of close gun re and explosions. As with most dog training, food rewards were used to help the dogs relate gun re to food, so they would run as quick as possible to get rations upon delivery of a message. Additional exercises included one where the dogs had to return to their kennels from an unknown position, being taken further from home each time. is did become problematic though, as I believe some of the dogs attacked pigs that the New Forest Commoners had put out for pannage, even killing some of the animals. is clash with New Forest traditions may well have contributed to the War Dog Training School’s short tenancy at Matley Ridge as it was relocated to Bulford on Salisbury Plains in May 1919. But this short period they spent in the New Forest undoubtedly helped contribute to the successes their canine descendants had during the Second World War. And now, over a hundred years a er they le the New Forest, there is the 1st Military Working Dog Regiment which currently has nearly four hundred working dogs in service. If you ever nd yourself walking at Matley Ridge, perhaps even with your own dog, give pause for thought of those two hundred dogs who once trained for war in the New Forest. If you look close enough, you might even spot signs of the trenches that the dogs would run through whilst under gun re. e training the dogs received was intense. It included running through trenches and elds whilst explosives and gun shots were let o . is was designed to replicate the conditions they would face when put into battle. Once on the battle eld, a war dog could cover ten to een miles in a couple of hours, during which Marc hosts monthly local history talks, visit:nfhwa.org/ events for details During the First World War, an estimated 20,000 dogs were trained on both sides to perform roles including message delivery and serving as sentries on the battle eld. e demand was so high that during the last year of the war, many strays caught on the streets of Britain were sent to be trained as war dogs. ere was even a public appeal made for more dogs a er which more than seven thousand pet owners handed theirs over for service. they would deliver messages, food, supplies, and medicine to troops on the front line. e animals navigated waterlogged trenches and open battle elds under a torrent of machine gun re as bombs dropped all around them. It’s likely that they would have been deliberately targeted when spotted by snipers, as the enemy would have known the dogs were likely carrying important information or supplies. One report explained how the dogs’ eyes were badly a ected by gas, and how they could be unreliable under heavy shelling, o en forgetting their training. However, they frequently did a good enough job in replacing tasks where human runners would have been exposed to great risk. e Parish of Hythe will be hosting their annual Autumn Fete on Saturday 9th September, 10am to 2pm in St John’s Churchyard in Hythe. Entry is 50p, free for children. ere will be performances, a hot dog stand, face painting, tombola, ra e and stalls. AUTUMN FETE
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