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Dingo, a Weimaraner, and Count, a German Shorthair, were the
famous Missile Dogs of White Sands, working with John and Cynthia Guzevich, owners
of Joh-Cyn Kennels in Las Cruces.
Small missile parts needed to be recovered after firing in order to analyze reasons
for success or failure. Before the Range Instrumentation Development Division began
the dog program in 1961, ground-recovery crews spent countless hours searching the
desert for a rocket part, which had often buried itself in the sand upon impact.
For up to a year before firing, important components of a missile were sprayed with
squalene, a shark-liver oil that the dogs could smell from hundreds of feet away.
After a missile firing, radar pinpointed the general impact area and the dog team
was sent out for recovery. Dingo and Count were trained to search out the scent
object and to stay on course until it was tracked down, without being distracted
by desert wildlife.
The Guzevich team worked with the dogs everyday, in all types of weather: intense
heat, snow or wind. Cynthia Guzevich created special terrycloth jackets for the
dogs, with pockets to hold ice cubes and cool the dogs during the summer.
With a 96% recovery rate, the program was so successful that other military and
scientific agencies requested their services. Dingo and Count recovered several
test devices for the Atomic Energy Commission near Albuquerque and in Tonopah, Nevada.
The program was discontinued in 1965. There had been eight dogs in the program,
but Dingo and Count were the first and the best of the Missile Dogs at White Sands
Missile Range – one of the most interesting sidelights in missile development and
testing done at the range.
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