I do not have many items of New Zealand Army militaria in my collection so when this T-shirt came up earlier in the year I couldn’t resist it. The New Zealand army uses working dogs quite extensively for a number of duties including guarding and for tracking. These dogs all have a dedicated dog handler allocated to them who trains with the dog so that they work seamlessly together. This Platatac t-shirt was produced to be worn by those military dog handlers and features a subtle logo on the front:
The back of the t-shirt has a much larger and distinctive logo:
The badge on the front of the shirt has a dog’s paw with an outline of New Zealand:
The back has a silhouette of a soldier and his dog, with the words ‘Military Working Dog New Zealand Army’:
On one sleeve of the t-shirt is printed the flag of New Zealand:
Whilst the other is marked ‘MWD Handler’ (Military Working Dog):
The New Zealand Army takes training its military dogs very seriously, as their website reports:
Four trainee military dog handlers from the New Zealand Army’s 1RNZIR Infantry Support Dog Section, Reconnaissance and Surveillance Platoon, have been put through their paces at an intensive training exercise at Waiouru.
During the exercise, from 29 April to 7 May, four instructors tested the trainees, each with a military working dog, in a wide range of environments in which they could be deployed.
Instructor Lance Corporal Gabriel Dewes, second in charge of the section, said the training was important because the handlers and dogs could be deployed if necessary to track, detect and apprehend people in various situations.
“The dogs can operate independently or with visual trackers as part of a combat tracking team, or attached to an infantry section or platoon,” Lance Corporal Dewes said.
“All infantry support dogs are trained to be deployed and extracted by air, land and sea. If needed the dog teams could deploy in a non-tactical role, such as in a search and rescue, or in a tactical role, where they pursue a fleeing enemy and if necessary apprehend selected targets on command.”
All military working dogs wear similar protective kit to soldiers. They wear stab-proof inserts in their vests, special canine boots, goggles and assault muzzles, and are provided with hearing protection and tracking collars.
During urban operations each dog will wear a camera on their harness, which feeds to the monitor worn by the dog handler and/or commander, enabling them to know at all times where the dog is and in what type of situation.
“The safety and welfare of the military working dogs is paramount for us. Every dog handler completes a canine first-aid course, so they have the skills to respond in the field if their dog is injured. We also regularly practice our first-aid skills on canine mannequins,” Lance Corporal Dewes said.
All dog handlers must serve at least two years in a rifle company, acquiring infantry skills before joining the Infantry Support Dog Section. Typical postings to the unit are for two to three years.
Tales from the Supply Depot 
When they finally reintroduced dogs, the first one we got was more than a little undersuited for the task. She couldn’t find a well used ‘bottle toker’ in a small room while I and everyone else could smell it from the doorway, but she promptly sat on the Deputy Warden the first time she was on ‘door duty’. That was probably the only time she was right 😉 she was finally dismissed for supposedly ‘jumping’ on a visitor…one that was attempting to assault the handler…she should have gotten a medal and a steak.
The later ones were much better trained and very useful, we had up to four at a time and they saved a lot of work, as well as causing a lot of paperwork writing up what they found.
Before we had dogs officially reintroduced after an absence of some years, but only for detection not patrol any longer, one Officer took it upon himself to bring his personal German Shepherd in and just sit in a chair beside the entrance during a major visit, cars were taking one look, turning around in the parking lot and leaving 🙂