U.S. Military Member Mike Forsythe, and his dog, Cara, break the world record for "highest man/dog parachute deployment" by jumping from 30,100 feet; Cara was wearing tactical body armor.
The Guinness world record for the Earliest dog in space was set by Laika the dog who became the first dog in space in November 1957 on board Sputnik 2.
Guinness World Records also recognized the first sniffer dog to be trained and used soley for the purpose of identifying illegal mobile (cell) phones is Murphy, a springer spaniel, who was trained by the Eastern Area Drug Dog team, UK, to identify a certain scent emitted by mobile phones. Murphy works with his handler, Mel Barker (UK), to detect such contraband items amongst prisoners at Norwich Prison (HMP Norwich), East Anglia, UK.
"Most of the public isn't aware of what these dogs add to national security," said Gerry Proctor, a spokesman for training programs at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, including the Military Working Dog School.
Dogs are used for protection, pursuit, tracking and search and rescue, but the military is also increasingly relying on them to sniff out the homemade bombs that cause the vast majority of American casualties in Afghanistan.
So far, no human or human-made technology can do better.
Few years ago, the Marines began a pilot program in Afghanistan with nine bomb-sniffing dogs, a number that has grown to 350 and is expected to reach nearly 650 by the end of the year.
Over all, there are some 2,700 dogs on active duty in the American military.
A decade ago, before the Sept. 11 attacks, there were 1,800.
Within the military, the breeds of choice are generally the German shepherd and a Belgian shepherd, or Malinois, but Marines in Afghanistan rely on pure-bred Labrador retrievers because of the dogs' good noses and non aggressive, eager-to-please temperaments.
Labs now accompany many Marine foot patrols in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan, wandering off-leash 100 yards or more in front as bomb detectors. |
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Highest Man/Dog Parachute Deployment