Dogs in medieval warfare: what the historical record shows

Part 1

How dogs served in ancient armies

The earliest written record of war dogs used in battle comes from the ancient Kingdom of Lydia, where the ruler Alyattes released dogs against Cimmerian cavalry around 600 BCE. Around the same time, Magnesian troops released their hounds on enemy phalanxes before a cavalry charge. At the Battle of Pelusium in 525 BC, Cambyses II arrayed dogs and other animals sacred to the Egyptians in his front line as a psychological tactic. Julius Caesar wrote of facing Celtic warriors flanked by wolfhounds and mastiffs during his invasion of Britain, and the Roman army bred the Molossus specifically for combat. Your own dog's instinct to guard you has a very long history behind it.

Part 2

Dogs as guards, gifts, and status symbols

Mastiffs are among the oldest recorded dog breeds, valued for size and strength in hunting, fighting, and guarding for thousands of years. When the Normans introduced bull baiting to Britain in the twelfth century, they used mastiffs for the sport, long before the bulldog existed. Gifts of war dog breeding stock between European royalty were seen as suitable tokens for exchange throughout the Middle Ages. Emperor Maximilian reportedly kept 1,500 dogs, and in 1518 Henry VIII of England gave 400 battle mastiffs with iron collars to Charles V of Spain. In 1599 Elizabeth I sent the Earl of Essex to Ireland with an army that included a large force of bloodhounds. If you have ever watched your dog guard the door, you have seen a much older job in miniature.

Part 3

Tracking dogs on the border

Bloodhounds were first imported to England around the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066, possibly by William the Conqueror himself. Edward I later used bloodhounds along the Scottish border to track down raiders known as moss troopers. Robert the Bruce is said to have escaped these dogs only by wading down a stream to lose his scent. Long after, similar hounds ran down the Duke of Monmouth after the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685.

Part 4

Dogs guarding ships and used in conquest

The French navy used dogs to guard naval installations, a practice that continued until 1770. From the fifteenth century, as European powers colonized new territory, dogs were also used as weapons and instruments of torture in warfare shaped by race. Spanish conquistadors used mastiffs and other large breeds against Native Americans in the 1500s. This part of the history is harder to read, but it is part of the record.

Part 5

From ad hoc use to organized military dogs

Historians describe the use of war dogs in the medieval and early modern West as a recurring but ad hoc, sporadic, and localized practice, quite distinct from the regular dog handling units established later. Those regular units were not set up until the late nineteenth century. The first official use of dogs for military purposes in the United States came during the Seminole Wars, and hounds were later used in the American Civil War to protect camps, send messages, and guard prisoners. By the First World War, dogs carried messages, stood guard, and helped find the wounded.

• Guarding camps and naval installations.
• Carrying messages between units.
• Serving as gifts exchanged between rulers.