The mystery dog is likely to be a German shepherd or Belgian Malinois, the breeds trained by US military dog handlers, The New York Times reported."There should be little reason to speculate about why there was a dog involved - man's best friend is a pretty fearsome warrior," said the deputy managing editor of ForeignPolicy.com Rebecca Frankel, who writes a weekly war dog column.
"They're a central part of US efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan - as of early 2010 the US Army had 2800 active-duty dogs deployed (the largest canine contingent in the world)," she wrote on the National Public Radio website.
Team 6's dog would have been strapped to one of the SEALs and dropped into Osama bin Laden's compound from a helicopter, The Guardian reported.
It was probably used to check for explosives or sniff out bin Laden himself, the commander of the US Defence Department's Military Working Dog Centre, Major William Roberts, told the Times.
"Dogs are very good at detecting people inside a building," he said.
"There is a cultural aversion to dogs in some of these countries, where few of them are used as pets. Dogs can be very intimidating in that situation."
A military dog was also believed to have been used in the capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in December 2003.
Fay Stokes, the secretary of the German Shepherd Dog League of NSW, said she was not surprised a canine would have been involved in the secret mission.
"They're highly intelligent - very discerning and very loyal dogs," she said, adding that, while poodles were also smart dogs, they did not have the size and strength of German shepherds.
"It's the soundness of their character ... but it's also about how well they are trained."
Last month, US dog trainers Cobra Canine was awarded a $US550,000 contract to train the animals at the US Special Operations Command's Naval Special Warfare Group 2, where the SEAL team would have come from, Wired magazine reported.
The dog could have been decked out in a waterproof tactical vest worth more than $US21,000, the Times said. Last year, the SEALs bought four such kits worth more than $US86,000.
Infrared and night-vision cameras would have been attached to the dog's vest so its handler could see what it was seeing up to nearly a kilometre away using a remote monitor. The vest would be either in camouflage or coyote tan and have a speaker on it so its handler could talk to the dog during the raid, the Times added.
Australia's own hero dog, bomb-sniffing Sarbi, received the RSPCA's highest award for animal bravery last month after going missing for more than a year in the tough terrain of Afghanistan in 2008.
"They're a central part of US efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan - as of early 2010 the US Army had 2800 active-duty dogs deployed (the largest canine contingent in the world)," she wrote on the National Public Radio website.
Team 6's dog would have been strapped to one of the SEALs and dropped into Osama bin Laden's compound from a helicopter, The Guardian reported.
It was probably used to check for explosives or sniff out bin Laden himself, the commander of the US Defence Department's Military Working Dog Centre, Major William Roberts, told the Times.
"Dogs are very good at detecting people inside a building," he said.
"There is a cultural aversion to dogs in some of these countries, where few of them are used as pets. Dogs can be very intimidating in that situation."
A military dog was also believed to have been used in the capture of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in December 2003.
Fay Stokes, the secretary of the German Shepherd Dog League of NSW, said she was not surprised a canine would have been involved in the secret mission.
"They're highly intelligent - very discerning and very loyal dogs," she said, adding that, while poodles were also smart dogs, they did not have the size and strength of German shepherds.
"It's the soundness of their character ... but it's also about how well they are trained."
Last month, US dog trainers Cobra Canine was awarded a $US550,000 contract to train the animals at the US Special Operations Command's Naval Special Warfare Group 2, where the SEAL team would have come from, Wired magazine reported.
The dog could have been decked out in a waterproof tactical vest worth more than $US21,000, the Times said. Last year, the SEALs bought four such kits worth more than $US86,000.
Infrared and night-vision cameras would have been attached to the dog's vest so its handler could see what it was seeing up to nearly a kilometre away using a remote monitor. The vest would be either in camouflage or coyote tan and have a speaker on it so its handler could talk to the dog during the raid, the Times added.
Australia's own hero dog, bomb-sniffing Sarbi, received the RSPCA's highest award for animal bravery last month after going missing for more than a year in the tough terrain of Afghanistan in 2008.
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