Hello from a newbie. who needs your help

[Jacquie]

Hello everybody.
I am hoping some of you clever people can help me to id a mititary dog!
my mother in law passed away in february,leaving behind a huge shock.

In a tin box we found my sixty seven year old husbands adoption certificate along with the photo's of what we first thought was a German Shepherd dog,we have since learnt from an eldery aunt that my husbands father was Canadian, possibly French Canadian,the dog we think could be his.

My husband last saw the photo's as a very young child, there was also a photograph of an airman standing by a plane this has disappeared,possibly shortly after he asked who it was! the ones of the dog though were put in the box.
The dogs name is written on the front of one of the photographs, he was called Harken or Harker,he has attached to his collar a long silver tag,did mititary dogs have tags the same as forces personel? We think he is a Canadian Sled dog on account of the white muzzle,German shepherds always have black ones.
The Photo has on the back with love from Aidan. We know Aidan spent time at the No1 Convalescent Depot R.C.A.M.C. C.A.S.F. in Brixham, Devon. England in 1942,but have no idea where the photo's were taken,Possibly north Africa.

If anyone has any idea's about the dog or the Airman we would be very pleased to hear them.
Please be assured we want nothing from any Possible Canadian relative of my husbands, it would be enough to know he and his dog survived the war and had a wonderful life.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and viewing the photo's.



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I hope the photo's are viewable via the link,I dont know how to resize them to post them direct.

Jacquie

[maple_leaf_eh]

I cannot comment on military dogs (2 or 4 legged!), but I will offer some observations on the photos.

From my (limited) knowledge of dog sleds. That harness is a simple step-in sled dog harness. So, I'd suppose this is not a guard or search dog. What the heck it was doing in UK is entirely supposition.

Sled dogs are scrappy work dogs with short lifespans; bred for running and kept for as long as they perform. Retirement is a bullet. No room for sentimentality or feeding an unproductive mouth. The breeds have changed a lot over the years as competitive 'mushers' look for the best animals to pull. Some guys doing the Iditerod (Alaska) race have tried to go with greyhounds and poodles - because they may give a competitive advantage. True Arctic-bred dogs are furry, short snouted beasts with no manners. They can be quite dangerous unless the musher and the lead dog dominate them. That dog looks very much like a 1940's German Shepherd, never mind the colours. After that, I out of ideas.

[Jacquie]

Hello Terry.
Thank you for taking the time to reply.I have had to remove the link it was copyrighted, if you type Canadian sled dogs Scotland WW11,the page should come up.If you look at the eighth photo down to the lead dog,it is exactly like the photo of Harken/Harker. Our photo is dated 1942.

We have kept GSD's all our lives and have never seen one without the black nose/muzzle,we did check this with the kennel club who confirmed it.

I do have other photo's of dogs used by all the services in WW11 but dont know how to resize them to put them on here and dont dare use them as they are they take up to much space! When our son comes home on leave maybe he can show me how to do it.

I do hope the dogs handlers did not suffer a similar fate to their dogs! Blue on Blue is bad enough but at least it's an accident.I would be devasted if anyone deliberately shot my dog.

Off topic what a fabulous site this is I was up until 2am looking at the Normandy photographs someone has posted,sad but fantastic viewing.
Jacquie

[Pam Wilson]

Hi,

Contact canadianrootsuk.org. Chris Vowles may be able to help.

Pam