A former military dog named Hertz has been awarded a medal known as the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross for his service in Afghanistan.
The German short-haired pointer is the first — and so far only — dog in British military history to detect electronic communications equipment such as mobile phones, voice recorders, sim cards and GPS devices.
Now retired, Hertz was awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal at a ceremony in London on Tuesday — the 74th animal to receive the honour.
Warrant Officer Jonathan Tanner, Hertz’s trainer and handler in Afghanistan, described the dog a “one-off.”
“He’s very much a unique animal,” said WO Tanner worked with Hertz in the former British military base Camp Bastion and at locations throughout Helmand and Kabul over a period of 13 months.
“It was a capability that in the British military had never been tried before,” he said.
After two months' training to sniff out such devices, Hertz went on to find more than 100 items of contraband and is though to have saved countless lives.
Born in Croatia, Hertz joined the RAF as a one-year-old puppy and was chosen for the special assignment after demonstrating exceptional skill in drug detecting.
WO Tanner said Hertz was “by far the best” dog he’s worked with, and that the pair became “best friends”.
“There were many times that one of us would be having a bad day not, enjoying ourselves as much as we possibly could, and I would take him away, put him back in his kennel at night and just sit there and have a chat like you do with your mates at the end of the day,” he said.
“He wasn’t very good at giving advice, but he certainly listened and I can tell you that he never gave me bad advice.”
PDSA Director General Jan McLoughlin said: “Hertz is a truly remarkable animal hero and a trailblazer in his field.
“His exceptional skills undoubtedly protected troops from the ever-evolving advances in digital intelligence.
“His actions changed the course of countless missions, saving the lives of military personnel and civilians.
“For this bravery and devotion to duty, we are honoured to welcome him as the latest recipient of the PDSA Dickin Medal.”
Former recipients of the Dickin medal include: a pigeon, White Vision, which flew for nine hours in bad visibility and heavy weather to deliver a message that led to the rescue of a ditched aircrew in October 1943; Simon the cat, for the disposal of many rats on board HMS Amethyst in 1949, and the horse Olga, awarded the medal in 1947 for controlling traffic and assisting rescue operations after a flying bomb explosion in Tooting, south London.
