War Diaries Talk

Tagging Query – War dogs.

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    War dogs are mentioned in the Diary of 18 Btn Durham Light Infantry.

    First time I have seen them mentioned, decided to use a tag i.e. #wardogs.

    Do you think we should have this tag? If so, perhaps it may be added to the Tagging List.

    See page link: https://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD00041jm

    Article on why dogs were used in war: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=War+dogs+ww1&rlz=1C1DSGL_enGB426GB426&oq=War+dogs+ww1&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l3.3501j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

    I thought we had a tag for #pigeons but cannot see it on following tag list link.

    https://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/boards/BWD000000j/discussions/DWD0000d05

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator

    I think it is fine to use a hashtag to mark a mention of dogs or pigeons. (I also thought we had a hashtag for pigeons, but I see we don't.) However, since the occasions when they come up in the diaries is rare, especially in the case of dogs--you say you have never seen it before and you have tagged a lot of diaries!--I don't know if we need to make an official hashtag for it.

    If we add too many things to the hashtag list it will become too long to be used easily, so it's best to keep it to fairly common items.

    I don't think I've ever seen dogs mentioned before either, but I have found references to pigeons.

    I remember reading an account about a misadventure with a pigeon, but I think it was probably in a private diary or maybe one of Lyn MacDonald's books. They had attached a message to a pigeon, but when they released it the poor thing was so wet and muddy it couldn't fly. It started walking off towards the enemy lines, and of course the Brits were desperate to keep it from falling into the Germans' hands. They couldn't shoot at, though, as that would alert the Germans, so someone went out crawling around in No Man's Land trying to catch this pigeon without being detected.

    Posted

  • marie.eklidvirginmedia.com by marie.eklidvirginmedia.com

    Cynthia, here is an article regarding - ‘Dogs' WW1 jobs uncovered in records’ with photographs.

    Part of Article : Up to 20,000 dogs were trained for front-line duties during World War One, newly uncovered records have shown.

    Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-25147640

    PS - Forgot about this diary entry I commented on an order, a year ago:

    “All ranks should be warned that dogs carrying message pouches on their collars are not to be detained except for messages read by officers”.

    Link: https://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/subjects/AWD0003jne

    Posted

  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    I think an #animal hashtag could be useful, to cover mention of beasts other than horses. As Cynthia says, mention of specific animals is probably too infrequent to warrant a more specific tag.

    You'd use it something like this:

    #animal message dog

    or

    #animal crawling around after a pigeon.

    Posted

  • erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be by erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be

    a "dog" discussion: https://talk.operationwardiary.org/#/boards/BWD0000009/discussions/DWD000188a

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator in response to erik.schaubroeckscarlet.be's comment.

    I remember that thread now. I thought the photo you added was particularly interesting.

    Posted

  • cyngast by cyngast moderator in response to ral104's comment.

    I think that having an #animal hashtag is a good idea, Rob.

    Posted

  • ral104 by ral104 moderator, scientist

    Good, good. I've added it now.

    Posted