Call for U.S.-Bred War Dogs Grows to End ‘Outsourced’ Security

They are some of the fiercest, most specialized weapons in the U.S. military’s arsenal. They also are in increasingly short supply and carry a high price tag, leaving the Pentagon to fend off the highest bidders around the world.

War dogs—among the military’s most precious resources—can detect scents more than 1,000 times better than any human or equipment, making them ideal for patrols, finding bombs, and chasing down terrorists—most recently the Islamic State leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Despite the military’s reliance on German Shepherds, Belgian Malinois, and Labrador retrievers, it is forced to buy them abroad or from stateside vendors, ...