Russia to employ hi-tech bomb-sniffing dog
In response to a series of terrorist attacks, Russia’s president Dmitry Medvedev has called on Russian military and security services to train more dogs as bomb sniffers; the dogs are trained not only in identifying explosives, but are also trained in carrying walkie-talkies so they can be given instructions from a distance, and to carry portable video cameras for in-building surveillance
From a distance it looks like a typical Russian army training base, but closer inspection reveals that those who train on the base’s obstacle course are dogs, not people. After clambering over walls, scampering across narrow beams, and squeezing through tunnels, the dogs re given a lesson in how to sniff out explosives which have been hidden in boxes, in cars, and in people’s pockets.
The BBC reports that this particular group of dogs is training to be sniffer dogs – but what makes them different from other sniffer canines is that, as well as having an acute sense of smell, these dogs also have a nose for technology.
The BBC reporter watched as a 7-year-old Labrador called Heinz had a walkie-talkie strapped to his collar. Communicating with the dog by radio only, a soldier directs Heinz down the road toward a suspicious looking suitcase.
For the purposes of this training exercise, the bag has been packed with explosives. A few minutes later Heinz reaches the bag and lies down beside it, to indicate he has found a bomb. Responding to another radioed command, Heinz then returns to base and the offending suitcase is destroyed.
Next the soldier attaches a video camera to Heinz. It sticks up from his collar like a pooch periscope. This time the dog is sent into a building across the field where he uncovers another bomb.
The dog’s handler monitors the whole scene in safety on a video screen strapped to his wrist.
The Russian army believes that remote-controlled sniffer dogs will help keep the army and the public safe. “Dogs can detect the kind of deadly material and explosives that a human being, a robot or a mine detector often struggle to find,” Colonel Vasily Kondratyuk, head of the 66th Military Engineers Corp, where the army’s sniffer dog centre is based, told the BBC.
“With their help we can prevent terrorist attacks. Dogs really are man’s best friend. Because they save lives.”
The push toward training more dogs in explosives detection is the initiative of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who, following several terrorist attacks in Moscow, called for more sniffer dogs in Russia.
