Mil­i­tary work­ing dogs are an essen­tial part of many mis­sions — even sen­si­tive ones, like the raid on the com­pound of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Bagh­da­di on Sat­ur­day night. They’re so impor­tant, in fact, that they occa­sion­al­ly hold ranks them­selves, although it’s mere­ly for­mal and not offi­cial, and they’re always ranked one high­er than their han­dlers. 

That “senior­i­ty” hon­ors the dog’s role and reminds the han­dler to be lenient when it has a bad day.

The dog who chased after Bagh­da­di, lead­ing to his death by sui­cide, has become a celebri­ty — even though the dog’s name remains clas­si­fied. A pho­to of the dog led to con­fir­ma­tion of its breed (a Bel­gian Mali­nois), but lit­tle else is known about the good boy (or girl). Dis­clos­ing the dog’s name and rank could lead to infor­ma­tion about the dog’s affil­i­a­tion with Delta Force, a clas­si­fied unit, The Wash­ing­ton Post reports. That unit is still in the field, and reveal­ing the dog’s name could put its han­dler at risk, although the dog’s pos­si­ble name and sex have been report­ed, by Newsweek and the Wash­ing­ton Post, respec­tive­ly.

Read more to learn more about mil­i­tary work­ing dogs. 

The bond between a military working dog and its handler is vitally important to completing missions.

Sgt. Stormy Mendez / US Marine Corps / DViDS

A han­dler needs to be able to read shifts and sub­tleties in their canine part­ner’s behav­ior to gath­er infor­ma­tion about their tar­gets or envi­ron­ments, and even how the dog is feel­ing.

For exam­ple, if the dog does­n’t feel like work­ing, or has defi­cien­cies with some tasks, the han­dler needs to be able to pick up on this and give the dog the tools, train­ing, and moti­va­tion it needs to com­plete the task.

While the military working dog’s rank is a formality — not an official rank like human troops have — it’s meant to encourage handlers to treat their dogs with love and respect.

Lance Cpl. Andrew R. Bray / US Marine Corps / DVIDS

Han­dlers have to be able to com­mu­ni­cate what their canine part­ners are “telling” them, and to know with­out a doubt that the dog will lis­ten to him or her. 

“There’s no doubt about my dog: Num­ber one, he will pro­tect me. Num­ber two, he will find a bomb,” Sgt. 1st Class Regi­na John­son told the Army in 2011. 

Military working dogs whose units allow them to hold ranks are non-commissioned officers (NCOs).

Air­man 1st Class Kris­tine Legate / US Air Force / DVIDS

By and large, mil­i­tary work­ing dogs are treat­ed as reg­u­lar US troops would be.

Unfor­tu­nate­ly, there was one peri­od where mil­i­tary work­ing dogs were left behind in a com­bat zone — in South Viet­nam, dur­ing US troops’ hasty with­draw­al there.

Pri­or to 2000, mil­i­tary work­ing dogs were also euth­a­nized after their ser­vice was fin­ished. Mil­i­tary work­ing dogs can now be adopt­ed to civil­ians once their ser­vice is fin­ished. 

Cairo the dog, also a Belgian Malinois, earned accolades from former President Barack Obama for his role in killing al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in 2011.

Manuel J. Martinez/U.S. Air Force/Handout via REUTERS

Cairo secured the perime­ter of bin Laden’s com­pound in Pak­istan, and, should the al Qae­da leader have proven dif­fi­cult to find, Cairo would be sent in after him. 

Upon hear­ing that Cairo was involved in the raid, for­mer Pres­i­dent Barack Oba­ma said, “I want to meet that dog,” accord­ing to an account in The New York­er. 

“If you want to meet the dog, Mr. Pres­i­dent, I advise you to bring treats,” one mem­ber of the SEAL team jok­ing­ly advised the pres­i­dent. 

Military working dogs and their partners both require extensive training to keep up with the demands of their job.

Depart­ment of Defense

Dogs and their train­ers go through a 93-day train­ing pro­gram to cement their skills and gain prac­tice as a team in real-world sce­nar­ios, accord­ing to the Army. 

Only about 50% of the dogs the mil­i­tary pro­cures to become mil­i­tary work­ing dogs are actu­al­ly suit­able for the job.

Military working dogs fulfill several important roles in operations, like sniffing out explosives.

Or detecting narcotics.

Locating the wounded.

And as sentinels who can patrol and protect during a mission.

They’re more than man’s best friend. Military working dogs are an essential part of the mission.