Chris Willingham spent nearly 20 years as a dog handler in the Marines. After multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he retired in 2019. He remembers being on a patrol south of Bagdad during the Iraq War, when his dog Lucas reacted to the scent of explosives.
"It was about 30 pounds of homemade explosives buried about a foot down," he said.
He kept a picture of a fellow Marine standing in a crater 12 feet wide, five feet deep, after the bomb was detonated.
"We were about to walk through," he said. "That was the first, but not the last, time my dog saved my life."
Willingham is president of the United States War Dogs Association. It facilitates the adoption of dogs after they retire. He estimates 90% of the people who adopt the dogs are handlers and former handlers. Because he knows the programs so well, he was surprised by a recent report by the Department of Defense Inspector General that found dogs living in unsanitary conditions throughout the services.
"I have not had that experience when I was in the Marine Corps, so it was pretty shocking to understand that those conditions were out there because they absolutely deserve the top care," he said.
The Inspector General found serious issues at 10 of the 12 facilities visited. Investigators concluded that "aging and unsatisfactory kennel facilities" caused the deaths of four military working dogs between 2021 and 2023.
At Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Joint Base Langley-Fort Eustis in Virginia, inspectors found severe mold in the kennel buildings. The report said Fort Bragg leaders consider black mold remediation a priority, but are focusing their efforts on the installation’s
housing and dining facilities.
At Langley, where inspectors found trenches in the kennel with "standing water and canine waste," handlers told inspectors that they couldn't get money in the defense budget to build new facilities.
Willingham said kennel masters throughout the military are typically medium-grade staff sergeants and petty officers.
"To get a new kennel facility update or to get major work done, that's well above a kennel master. That's a little bit much to put on an individual handler when it comes to large-scale projects," Willingham said.
The Air Force trains working dogs for all of the services at Joint Base San Antonio–Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Inspectors found that dogs in the training program run by the 341st Training Readiness Squadron had been walked only 10 minutes, four times a week.
Short on staff, Lackland handlers tried to replace physical activity with other methods of "holistic enrichment," according to the report. That included exposing the dogs to "inflatables, audio books, music, and scented bubble machines."
In 2023, 22% of the 520 dogs at Lackland were infected with internal disease, according to the report. The Inspector General recommended the Air Force lower the number of dogs until more staff was hired.
The Air Force acknowledges that three dogs died at their training facility.
A spokesman for the Air Force said the service "concurs with the recommendations of the IG report and is implementing the changes recommended, including increased staffing and facility improvements."
Dogs are used in the military for a variety of tasks.
"Our dogs are trained on both detection as well as patrol work," explained a 2009 video produced by the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton, California.
"Explosives, narcotics, anything of that sort you're not supposed to have aboard Camp Pendleton installation, then they're going to find it,” said Lance Cpl. Brandon Benningfield, a K-9 handler with Security and Emergency Services Battalion.
Inspectors found all 17 dogs at Pendleton were sick at the time of the inspection. The handlers at Pendleton reported receiving dogs from Lackland which were sick and suffered from heat-related issues. At Pendleton and Naval Base San Diego, investigators found dogs in aging facilities that left them exposed to the elements.
Willingham said the U.S. War Dogs Association keeps tabs on military working dogs. They provide care packages for deploying teams. He said the number of teams surged during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but they have dipped in recent years. Last year, the Special Operations Command for the Marines shut down its dog program.
"Whether it was IEDs, whether it was enemy personnel, their primary job just came back to saving lives and bringing people home," he said. "And the only reason I made it home was because of the dog that I had served with."
He said he’s hopeful that the report's findings are not a sign that the services see its dog teams as a lower priority.
This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans.