With increasing demand from Central and State security forces for Belgian shepherds, the Border Security Force (BSF) has now begun breeding the canine variety at its National Training Centre for Dogs in Tekanpur near Gwalior.
The Belgian Shepherds, also known as Malinois, are very agile and can walk or run up to 30 km at a stretch without food and water unlike the labradors and German Shepherds. Besides, the olfactory senses of the canine variety are 40 times better than what human beings have.
They can operate in extreme temperatures and do not need air coolers during summers unlike the German Shepherds. Another quality of the Belgian Malinois is that it communicates through a nod of its head and does not bark, so the target is not alerted.
Belgian Malinois was also used by the US Navy Seals in its operation against then al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin laden at Abottabad in Pakistan.
“Over the past one year, there has been an unprecedented demand for more canine detectives especially Malinois from paramilitary and police forces across the country. Considering the huge gap in supply-demand we have focused more now on breeding Malinois,” said
BN Panchbuddhe, deputy commandant and in-charge of the training academy.
At present the BSF dog squad has 15 Belgian Malinois. “Considering the threats of terrorism and Naxalism, dogs are in great demand from security agencies. They have been sending us more and more dogs and handlers to train them,” Panchbuddhe said, adding the NTCD has begun in-house breeding of the dogs to cater to the demand.
Meanwhile, the NTCD has joined the anti-poaching efforts of forest departments of various States by training the canines and their handlers on its campus at Tekanpur.
In a first, the NTCD is training 16 dogs and a similar number of handlers at the facility. Three dogs and another three handlers each from Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are being imparted a nine-month course. likewise, two dogs and an equal number of handlers of Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh are also undergoing a similar training. A team of one dog and a handler of West Bengal is also part of the training course being conducted for the forest department, Panchbuddhe said.
Another course for Naxal-affected States is also being imparted at the reputed dog training institute. The current batch of 32 canines for the anti-Naxal agencies includes 15 dogs of Chhattisgarh Police, he added.
The Institute conducts four courses every year for training the handlers and canines. While training for one batch begins in January, the other group is trained in April, another in July and one batch in October. The canines are trained in infantry patrolling, tracking, detection of explosives, narcotics and poisonous substance, mob control, search and rescue operation and mine detection.
The NTCD is a premiere institute which was accorded “Centre of Excellence” status by the Union Government. It has also been awarded with ISO certification and is imparting training to dogs and handlers of Central paramilitary forces, State police forces and other law enforcement agencies of India and a few other countries.
The CRPF’s canine squad now has 350 dogs, including labradors, German Shepherds and Malinois. The CRPF plans to replace the labradors and German Shepherds with the Malinois in a phased manner.
The CRPF has also started breeding only Malinois at its dog-breeding and training school in Bangalore to meet the demands of its elite anti-Naxal force CoBRA and also at its unit posted in Jammu & Kashmir. During the 20 weeks training period the dogs are trained, they learn how to detect and identify both explosive material and hostile or hiding humans.