-Sitt. Slipp. Braaaaaaaa!
Norwegian commands with a Bosnian accent are penetrating the highland wind. “Howard”, a two year old MDD-to be has just been rewarded for finding a tiny piece of rubber, a “micropiece” hidden inside a pile of bricks. He has been three weeks in Ethiopia, after having being sent from Tanzania. He is young, and a bit of a “rascal”, in need of more training to be able to do a good job. Now he is in the capable hands of Nedim Fejzic, who is also fairly new to Ethiopia. Nedim has been working at the Global Training Centre in Sarajevo, as well as shorter spells in Cambodia, Jordan and Ethiopia, in NPAs de-mining projects.
Training a Mine-detection dog is a science. If you want to count the value of a fully capable dog in money, it would be about 50.000 USD. The training takes time, requires a lot of resources, from buildings and equipment to special dog-food. But it is all worth it, for one the dogs do their job and detect the mines. And last but not least, the training pays off because all the dogs are careful in this dangerous work, and get through their career alive. No NPA dogs have ever been killed in line of duty!
All MDD dogs in NPA projects are born and bread at the Global training centre in Sarajevo. From here they are exported to other de-mining projects run by NPA all over the world. Professional instructors go with them to their new countries, training local people in the noble art of shaping a Mine detection dog. Local staff also goes to Sarajevo for training. And since the whole centre was initiated by Norwegians, all the commands given to the dogs are also Norwegian. Whether in Cambodia or Jordan, the “Mine-dog language “is Norwegian.
It all starts as a game. The dog gets to play with a small rubber toy as a reward for good behavior. He recognizes the smell of this, and later he has to look for smaller and smaller pieces of the same material. This process makes the dog able to react on the smallest whiff of smell. Later, the process is being repeated with TNT; the dogs have to learn how to react on miniscule quantities of explosives, and only on explosives.
“Howard” still has a way to go before he starts the TNT-bit. He is being shaped, the same as the area he is living in, the Entoto Mine Action Training Centre.
Starting from January this year, the expansion of the centre was in the works. The expansion takes aim to create a center where manual deminers as well as machine operators can be trained. Dormitories will be built to accommodate 200 trainees. There will be a garage for the maintenance of equipment, as well as four buildings for instructors.
The centre will also be a training facility for Mine detection dogs. The idea is to “refresh” dogs who are already in the field. In addition to this, 8 to 10 new dogs will arrive from Sarajevo around May this year, and they will also be trained for Ethiopian conditions. Entoto is situated about 3000 meters above sea-level, and has a pretty chilly climate, at least for Africa. In a cold climate, all scents are much reduced, making the detection more difficult and training here makes the dogs even more capable of finding the smallest hint of a smell.
Also here Nedim plays an important part in designing the facilities for dogs.
-Three tents have been put up with a layer of sand in it, and one with bricks so we can train indoors in the rainy season. The kennel facilities already existing are being painted, and the area around is now being cleaned. We are going to have flowers planted, to create a good environment for the dogs. We will most likely have puppies here, and for them we need a “kinder-garden”, where they can play around. It is also very useful to have a swimming pool for exercising the dogs. In addition to this, we are making new markings for the mock-mine training field we have here, and a new map that pin-points the exact location for the de-armed mines and ammunition we have buried in the training field.
One feature that is already existing, but in need of improvement is the “carousel room”. In this room, there is a device that contains many small boxes. Each box is filled with a material that gives a smell, like soil, cigarette stubs, all the smells that a dog can get from working in the field. The snag here is to make sure that the dog is focusing on one scent-the TNT.
-This room is now being improved. We are putting up tiles at the floor, and new boxes for the carousel, as well as a store for TNT. The tiles makes the room easier to clean, the tiles does not get easily contaminated with smells, says Nedim.
It is the Ethiopian Mine Action Organization that is running the Entoto Mine Action Training Centre. NPA is cooperating with them, and providing advice to the expansion.
The hope is that this centre will become a unique one, where training can be given that will help projects in the region.