The scent of four-legged animals remains an unsurpassed tool in the search for explosives
"A dog is a man's friend, brother and partner," the military says. In the SVO zone, these animals are now the first assistants in the clearance of buildings and industrial sites. What the sapper will take hours to do, the four-legged companion will do in minutes. A dog's nose is especially in demand when constructing new facilities and laying trails: before starting construction, it is necessary to completely inspect and clear the territory of any "surprises". A special correspondent of Izvestia met with dog handlers who have been traveling to Donbass in the last two years, and learned what they manage to find at the site of yesterday's battles, what are the main rules for raising service dogs and why it is better not to go on a mission in a bad mood.
Gunpowder, TNT, rdx
German Shepherd and malinois, wagging their tails, jog tirelessly around the SUV. The German one's name is Bagheera, malinois (Belgian Shepherd) is Bella. There are aviaries nearby, where the replenishment will soon arrive — puppies, from which professional search engines will be raised. We are located at the suburban base of the dog training company "Regulus Group" in the Moscow region. She trains and provides dogs to search for explosives and drugs in shopping malls, schools, transport, production, at events, and since 2022 — during the restoration of settlements in the liberated regions.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Image source: iz.ru
"We have 57 adult dogs in total," Viktor Tyupin, the head and founder of the company, tells Izvestia. — There are 35 dog handlers on staff. The nature of the work is traveling. Animals are taught to recognize TNT, RDX, gunpowder, and other substances. I would like to note that the dog, despite modern technologies, is still the most effective tool for searching for explosive substances. Once we conducted an experiment and hid a bookmark in a large building. It took a man with a modern gas analyzer five hours to detect it. The dog coped in 30 minutes.
The first stage of training, according to Victor, which the animals undergo, is a general training course, it begins with two to three months: this includes mastering the key commands: "sit", "lie down", "stand", "place", "next", etc.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Image source: iz.ru
Also, the dog must learn not to react to all sorts of bones on the ground, not to take food from other people's hands. And it is necessary not to be afraid of crowds, transport, loud noises: for this, she is constantly taken to crowded places. In parallel, there are training sessions for the development of dexterity — overcoming obstacles, physical activity. It is extremely important, the specialist notes, not to overload the puppy with information at first, otherwise he will get confused and stop understanding what is wanted from him. Odor recognition training begins after eight months.
Not a sound
Maxim, the call sign Rex, works with the "Belgian" Bella (once he really liked the series about the German Shepherd "Commissioner Rex"), a dog handler with 14 years of experience. He had a service in the Ministry of Internal Affairs behind his back — he was looking for drugs and explosives with four-legged partners, as part of an operational group he walked with his pets on the trail. Once, in the Moscow region, I was walking 10 km in the forest with a dog by the smell — two bandits attacked the owner of a village cottage, maimed him, and took out valuables. And the smart dog helped first to find the mask, and then the documents for the gas pistol hidden in the ground, and they subsequently managed to reach the bandits and detain them.
Maxim, call sign Rex, with Belgian shepherd Bella
Image source: Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Maxim leaves for Donbass with Bella. I started from Mariupol, then there were Volnovakha, Severodonetsk, Berdyansk. While a suspicious object is in place, the dog marks it with a "freeze" pose — that is, he sits down or lies down next to it, while not making a sound (loud barking can cause detonation). After that, the sappers take over the case. The work schedule of the animals includes mandatory periodic rest. Among the numerous finds of Bella and Maxim are TNT, mines, grenade launchers with charges, missiles of all kinds.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Image source: iz.ru
It is noteworthy that the animals perceive the service search itself as a game. For which there is a mandatory reward in the final: some dogs prefer a treat, for others the main joy is playing with a ball.
From a half-glance
"Mine just loves the ball," Vladimir, the dog handler, Buggy's call sign, the owner of Bagheera's big red German Shepherd, tells Izvestia. During our conversation, she tries to lick the owner on the cheek once again, holds out her paw to him, readily demonstrates commands — "stand", "lie down", "voice" and even the complex "die" — falls on her side, rolls her eyes and sticks her tongue out of her grinning, smiling mouth.
Bagheera the German Shepherd
Image source: Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
Vladimir has been with his pet for 11 years. He started as a dog handler in the Moscow Metro. After that, I went to Dagestan, where I worked with the security forces — I checked houses during counter-terrorism operations, looked for caches. In 2022, the profession led to Donbass. In addition to the usual tasks, together with colleagues, he also carries out a survey of schools and the protection of facilities during significant events in new territories.
— When you and your dog have been together for so many years, you understand each other from half a glance, — says Buggy. — She, for example, perfectly reads my emotions, recognizes the slightest nuances. That is why it is not recommended to go out on a search when you are in a bad mood. The dog will take it personally, the efficiency of such work will decrease.
Vladimir, Buggy's call sign
Image source: Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Prudnikov
As for keeping a dog in the house, then, according to Vladimir, for her health — both physical and psychological (and, accordingly, the right working mood) — it is important not to limit yourself to the minimum "fed – walked". She needs full—fledged communication, games, long walks in nature, mandatory free running without a leash when she learns the world and emotionally unloads, and incessant development - lessons and training.
Under the rubble
Another employee of Regulus Group, Alexandra, Alex's call sign, lives in Crimea, in Alushta. She has three dogs: a nine-year-old American Staffordshire terrier Jolly, a two-year-old collie Infantry and a one-year-old malinois Valkyrie. A whole universal team capable of finding everything in the world.
Alexandra herself has worked in the tourism industry for many years. I thought about whether to make a four-legged friend when I participated 11 years ago as a volunteer in the search for a missing boy in the mountains. The child could not be found then (his body was found in a crevice only with the onset of spring), and she had a question: "Why are there no dogs? After all, if they had been, they could have been saved..." And soon got herself a staff — Jolly. I trained her to look for living (i.e. lost) people. And for several years, during raids in the mountains and forests of the Crimea, a selfless and intelligent terrier found 10 people — lost tourists.
Alexander's dog handler with his pet, the Scottish Shepherd Infantry
Image source: Photo: Social Media
With the onset of the SVO, Jolly received additional education — she learned to recognize different types of explosives. Soon the collie Infantry came to her rescue.
— In Severodonetsk, for example, the Infantry found several unexploded shells in the back of a KAMAZ truck among the construction debris that they were going to take out, — says Alexa. — There is a pistol with cartridges in one of the sheds. And in the children's sandbox, just walking, casually, there is a booby trap disguised as a toy.
And an experienced Jolly in Mariupol saved a man's life, so the old skills came in handy.
Collie Infantry in the area of its
Image source: Photo: Social Media
— An excavator was raking the territory in a suburban village, — the woman recalls. — And suddenly Jolly smelled something and barked a characteristic signal, meaning: "there's a man here"! They began to dig up, and there, in the buried basement, the old woman was still alive, unconscious. Apparently, she had been inside for a long time and could not get out. If it wasn't for the dog, it would have been leveled to the ground.
Each pet, Alexandra shares, has its own character. Jolly is serious and responsible. Infantry — Star and Queen: She is a frequent participant in the "lessons of courage" in schools. The growing Valkyrie, as befits a teenager, just does not sit still for a minute. In the near future, he and the hostess will probably go on a business trip to the SVO zone again, this time the three of them.
Sergey Prudnikov
