WIRED: No, Navy SEAL Dogs Don’t Have Titanium Teeth

[Heidi]

May 5, 2011

Military dogs are awe-inspiring creatures, especially when attached to elite troops like the Navy SEALs. All day, the media have been in a frenzy over the fact that a military dog accompanied SEAL Team 6 on its mission to wax Osama bin Laden.

But let’s kill a misleading meme before it spreads further: Navy SEAL dogs don’t have titanium teeth.

A piece in The Daily took a good, detailed sniff around the German shepherds and Belgian Malinois that accompany special operations forces on patrol. But overshadowing all the cool radios and cameras strapped to the dogs is the claim that their “razor-sharp teeth are made of titanium,” at a cost of $2,000 per chomper. Getting bit by them “is like being stabbed four times at once with a bone crusher,” one dog trainer told The Daily. To quote enhanced-grille expert Pall Wall, that got the internet going nuts.

There’s one problem. If the dogs do have Kanye teeth, it’s a sign something’s wrong with them.

“It would not be possible for them to use titanium teeth to make them even more aggressive,” says Jeff Franklin, owner of Cobra Canine in Virginia Beach. “They’re not as stable as a regular tooth would be, and they’re much more likely to come out” during a biting.

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[Lasher]

1. I have it on good authority that this animal was an actual seal.

This is highly classified. I can say no more.

[razorman]

2. They don't need titanium teeth. The laser eyes are usually enough.

[KurtNYC]

3. but they DO HAVE: fog of war breath, and after some cheese pizza

they are silent but deadly.

[xchrom]

4. recommend

[Heidi]

7. In the midst of all the "AMERICA, f*ck YEAH!" hurrah,

I thought a "bite" of fact might be in order, lest all of my countrymen/women begin fitting their dogs on Monday morning with titanium crowns. :yoiks:

[Bosso 63]

5. Titanium skeletons, ballistic fiber fur

and big brown eyes that have been genetically engineered to warm even the coldest of hearts, for
they are the X-Dogs.

[Heidi]

6. Ha!

I'm more of a cat person, but I've gotta agree about the eyes engineered to warm even the coldest hearts. :)

Good morning! :hi:

[jp11]

8. I heard they were adamantium.