Bhubaneswar: Trained Police K9 is an integral part of Police Forces all over the world for – detecting Explosives, Narcotics, Tracking Sniffing, Search & Rescue work. All this because they have a highly developed sense of smell capacity and well developed olfactory organ.
The excellent capabilities to sense different kinds of smell have qualified them as a great companion of Police in Law Enforcement. They act as ‘Force Multipliers’ for the police department. The K9 Squad of Odisha Police in order to strengthen its canine unit has for the first time, inducted 5 Belgian Mallinois.
These canines were purchased from the Sashastra Seema Bal. These five canines along with 7 Handlers completed 9 months of rigorous training at SSB’s Dog Training-Cum-Breeding Centre at Alwar in Rajasthan. Following the training, the dogs have joined the K9 Wing of CID Crime Branch.
The five Belgian Mallinois Pups trained in Tracking Trade have undergone training in different skills such as:
Obedience work: This is the basic training of the Police K9 which includes marching, sit, up, down, flat, roll & salute to make the Police K9 obedient in performing different advanced job training.
Refusal of food: In this training Police K9 will not take food from stranger and unknown people from a security point of view.
Obstacle Crossing: In this exercise Police K9 trained to cross the obstacle if any, during search operation.
Seek or Find: In this exercise Police K9 find out the lost articles of his Master by smelling human scent on the trail of his Master and is able to search the lost articles.
Scent discrimination: In this exercise, Police K9 identifies the scented handkerchief from a group of handkerchiefs by taking smell from the given Human Scent.
Tracking: In this exercise, Police K9 takes the smell from the Key Scent available in the Spot and track the person by sniffing the human trail in the ground by Ground Scent/ Air Scent.
All the five Belgian Mallinois Pups are registered under Kennel Club of India, Chennai and all are of 14 months age group.
Breed information:
The Breed Belgian Mallinois originated from Belgium in the 1800s. The Dog is known for its Smart, Confident and Versatile disposition. The name Mallinois derived from the word Maline which is the City of Belgium and the Dog was first bred in the Maline City.
Mallinois are intelligent, agile, loyal and stealthy making them the favoured bred for working with the Police, Army, Navy in Foreign Countries. Also, Belgian Mallinois are deployed in India by different CAPF like SSB, BSF, ITBP, CISF, CRPF, and all State Police Organizations.
A key characteristic that make Mallinois excellent Military Dogs in their strong sense of smell. Mallinois have approximately 225 million scent receptors in their noses. In comparison to humans only 5 million of scent receptors in the nasal path.
Another notable aspect of a dog’s sense of smell is that its nostrils work independently. A dog’s nose is structured differently from ours and its nostrils have different openings for breathing in and out.
