The Struggle between MWD Anax & MWD Dark

Posted on 19th March, by Kevin Hanrahan in Dog Advocate, Marc and Anax. 4 Comments

This is Part III of The Marc and Anax series. You may wish to read Part II or skip right back to Part I first.

A working dog is only as good as his handler. A handler is only as good as his dog. You can have incompetent handlers and you can have a dog that just doesn’t get it. Without the team…..a Military Working Dog team is useless.

Marc Whitttaker and Military Working Dog Anax were a highly effective working dog team because Marc had trained Anax properly. Anax understood what to do and was good at his tasks and Marc could “read” Anax’s signals. Marc and Anax are still a team but not a military working dog team. Anax is sitting in the kennel waiting to be shipped to Marc’s home in Texas begrudgingly to live the retired life.

Life goes on and in the Army there is a mission to meet. Marc has been paired with a new dog, Military Working Dog Dark, who is a patrol narcotic detector dog (PNDD). Though his heart still belongs to his son, the patrol explosive detector dog (PEDD), Anax who must now watch his dad, Marc, do all the things they once did together.

Military Working Dog Dark is a black and tan small framed german shepherd that has a very beta male personality. He is the total opposite of the dominant large german sheppard, alpha male, Anax.

Because of their differences in personality they are able to get along and socialize without any issues. But they aren’t friends. They both want the same thing, Marc’s attention.

Military Working Dog Dark has passed his first test with Marc…..he accepts that Anax is king.
How will Marc develop a bond with Military Working Dog Dark?

Why is this bond so important?

What happens to Anax?