Bomb Dogs

They Sniff at Danger – washingtonpost.com
How a Motley Crew of Dogs Found Their True Calling — Fighting Terrorism

Consider another interpretation. This is an interpretation based on the simple reality that these dogs have no idea whether what they’re doing is “noble” or “patriotic”. The Washington Post has a little video segment of these dogs with the headline, “Man’s Best Friend Joins Fight Against Terror”. Gee — do you think this is something these dogs are choosing to do?

Language like that used in the Post’s article is designed (probably unconsciously) to obscure the fact that these dogs are tools who have a very good chance of being blown to pieces as part of their “fight against terror”.

I understand there’s another side. These are dogs who would very likely have been euthanized if they’d not been enrolled in this program. Now they get a little more life, maybe some affection, and a fun game where they look for strange-smelling materials. Materials they were rewarded for finding during the course of their training. Such fun! They have no idea that in the real world, those strange-smelling things are lethal.

I don’t know whether what’s being done with these dogs is immoral. I only know that it’s not as simple as dogs “joining the fight against terror”.