Paws awards for military's loyal recruits

The military's four-legged recruits will soon be honoured for their work on the battlefield, in a world first.

Defence is introducing a special canine operational service medal to acknowledge the contribution of its working dogs in East Timor, Afghanistan, Iraq and Solomon Islands.

Military dogs are involved in security and crime prevention, emergency response and improvised explosive device detection.

The medal will be awarded to dogs with 30 days service on operations commencing from 1999.