21 Sled dogs:
Most recognized breeds are Alaskan, Mackenzie River and Siberian Husky, Malamute, Alusky, Chinook, Euro Hound, Greenland dog, Qimmiq and Samoyed.
Those dogs are densely furred up to 600 hairs per inch.
Sled dogs are amazing athletes, with a very high endurance allowing them to cover an average of 25 miles per hour while pulling the sled. Sleds were mass product during the gold rush, and still produced a few decades later as they were the best and fastest transportation means during the Alaskan rush, unfortunately only very few sleds survived. An interesting to visit museum is the Dog Mushing Museum in Fairbanks.
Nowadays fewer sled dogs are used in goods or people transportation due the advent of snowmobile. Nevertheless sled could still be seen in action during the very unique race: IDITAROD, A race over 1150 Alaskan miles of beauty and wildness, teams accomplish the race in 10 to 17 days. A Sled dog could eventually become a house pet but be prepared to deal with your dog frequent calls for intense activity..
22 Therapy dogs:
Provide comfort and affection, this concept is attributed to Elaine Smith founder of Therapy Dogs International (1976) English born residing in NJ. She observed patients comportment while and after a Chaplain and his dog were visiting, the rest as one says is history.
Character is major factor to look for in a therapy dog, breed does not matter. A therapy dog ought to bear a friendly attitude; remember how good you feel after a hard working day when making it back home your best friend welcomes you.
This feeling is duplicated when the dog and dog owner pair visit for example a hospital, home care or hospice and even in disaster areas, it goes to the point that post visit patients often for a while require less medication.
23 Tracking dogs:
Not to be referred as Trailing dog, Tracking dog breeds are usually from the hound family, an old Celtic breed.
A tracking dog is trained to follow a path, note we say path (track) not a piece of garment human scent.
24 Trailing dogs:
As tracking dogs most trailing dogs pertain to the hound family.
The dog will be given to smell an uncontaminated piece of cloth belonging to the missing or researched person. Uncontaminated means not touched by many different people. The dig will start trailing from the point where the person was last seen.
A trailing dog follows the ground trail left by human shed body cells.
For your information: If you need help from a Search and Rescue team (SAR) you will be better off not losing any precious time as the scent path may diminish.
War dogs:
First used by Egyptians, Greeks, Persians, Britons and Romans.
Breeds are mostly German and Dutch Shepherds, but for specialized missions such as Odor Detector dogs Retrievers such as Labrador, Golden or Chesapeake Bay are chosen.
Military War dogs are used by the US Army since the first WW at that time aside from Shepherds Doberman was also favored.
Roles: We all heard about unit mascots, but did you know that during World War 2 they were used as guinea pigs to test medicines, and most generally for detection and tracking, scouts and sentries.
FYI, there are two war dog memorials: March Air Force Base in CA and Fort Benning GA.
Also, the Discovery channel has shown: The War Dogs America Forgotten Heroes documentary. You could also visit UsWarDogs.org
Water Search dogs:
Breeds: Most dogs feel a natural attraction for water environment such as Retrievers and Newfoundlands, Spanish and Portuguese water dogs.
The dogs work either from the shore or in boat, and are able to detect a human scent as it comes to the surface.
If a scent is detected the dog will then bite at water, a water search team includes also a diver.
This concludes our Working dogs article. Thank you!