Military working dogs and their handlers provide a valuable range of specialist roles world wide. When they reach the end of their military service life, it is the Department's policy to re-home all suitable military working dogs, often with someone closely associated with the dog while it was serving. Members of the public can also apply to re-home retired military working dogs and there are currently around 150 people waiting for a suitable dog to become available. There are currently 1,110 military working dogs in service within the Ministry of Defence. The number of dogs re-homed between January 2010 and 7 October 2013 is as follows: Numberof military working dogsre-homed 2010 92 2011 80 2012 104 2013(7 October2013) 83 It is deeply distressing for all concerned if a dog has to be put down, however this decision is only taken by a veterinarian officer after all other possible avenues have been exhausted and only ever when it is the most humane option for the dog or where there is a considered risk to public safety. There is no legislative requirement for a legal framework to control the number of military working dogs that are put down, and there are no plans to implement one. Information on the number of military working dogs that have been put down since 2010, and the reasons for doing so is provided in the following tables: 2010 Reason Total Abdominalcatastrophe 2 Aged—welfare 48 Chronicskindisease 1 Dangeroustemperament 17 Heartfailure 3 Injuriessustained in aRTA 1 Malignancy 3 Multiorganfailure 1 Musculoskeletaldisease 1 Neurological 11 Osteoarthritis 18 Severechestwound 1 Severeinjury 1 Severeophthalmologicaldisease 1 Severeskindisease 2 Severesoft tissuedisease 1 Spinaldisease 1 Unknown 4 2010total 117 2011 Reason Total Abdominalcatastrophe 3 Aged—welfare 20 Catastrophicbonefracture 1 Complicationsfollowingtrauma 1 Dangeroustemperament 11 Heartdisease 1 Malignancy 11 Neurological 10 Osteoarthritis 17 Peritonitis 1 Severeligamentdamage 1 Spinaldisease 2 Unknown 4 Unknown—suspectedcoagulopathy 1 2011total 84 2012 Reason Total Abdominalcatastrophe 2 Aged—welfare 16 Blindness 1 Chronicgastroenterologicaldisease 1 Complicationsfollowing fracturerepair 1 Dangeroustemperament 2 Heartdisease 2 Internalinjuries followingtrauma 1 Malignancy 6 Metabolicdisease 1 Multipleextensiveinjuries 1 Musculoskeletaldisease 1 Neurological 9 Osteoarthritis 22 Rupturedspleen 1 Severeskindisease 3 Suspectedneurologicaldisease 1 2012total 71 20131 Reason Total Abdominalcatastrophe 1 Aged—welfare 4 Blindness 1 Chronicgastroenterological 1 Dangeroustemperament 5 Died—OralPyriproletoxicity 3 Heartdisease 1 Malignancy 3 Multiplechronic diseaseprocesses 1 Osteoarthritis 10 2013total 30 1January to June