Belgian Malinois – The Dog in Osama Bin Laden Raid

According to the New York Times, there was a canine that was part of the SEAL team that raided Osama bin Laden’s compound. The dog could be a Belgian Malinois breed, although others say it could also be a German Shepherd.

According to Mike Dowling, a former Marine Corps dog handler who served in Iraq, via Global Animal, there’s a simple explanation for why the Navy SEALs took a dog along on the Osama raid: “A dog’s brain is dominated by olfactory senses.” In fact, Dowling says, a dog can have up to 225 million olfactory receptors in their nose — the part of their brain devoted to scent is 40 times greater than that of a human. “You can only see what you can see. You can’t see what you don’t see. A dog can see it through his nose,” Dowling added.

So will we ever know what dog was involved? Most likely not.