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WAG THE DOGS A LOOK INSIDE THE TRAINING GROUND FOR OUR NATION’S FOUR-LEGGED SOLDIERS
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PAYA L KHANDELWAL IMAGES
SHARBENDU D E
We’re sitting atop a rocky outcrop, overlooking a forest clearing. It is a cloudy evening in Gwalior as we watch Flame, a German Shepherd, walk cautiously and attentively alongside his handler, Sitaram Meena. Flame approaches the edge of the thick jungle, where two men are concealed underneath the natural cover. Five minutes later, after diligent sniffing and intense observation, Flame breaks his silence, having located the two men. He knows he’s cracked it, looking eagerly to Sitaram for acknowledgement of his triumph. Flame is in training at the National Training Centre for Dogs (NTCD), a Government of India institute under the Border Security Force (BSF). As Sitaram pats him, the unit’s
Assistant Commandant, Dr Shankar, challenges Sitaram to push Flame harder in these mock drills. Today, Flame and Sitaram’s test is just a harmless simulation. Soon, they actually might face a lethal encounter in the areas affected by the armed proponents of Maoist struggle in India. The first recorded use of dogs as part of a war campaign dates back to the Babylonian Hammurabi, who died more than 2,000 years ago. Horses, camels, dogs, pigeons, dolphins, rats, and other animals have been part of many war histories as official soldiers. Dogs are now also required to maintain a huge number of local vigils. In India, the fierce and sharp force works incessantly for our protection from
a vast array of threats. Armed with canine superpowers including a wide angle of vision, heightened hearing, and astounding olfactory acuity, they are a force to be reckoned with. While earlier, outside of combat, they were mainly deployed at significant public monuments, the presence of canines in service of the law is now near-ubiquitous. The frightening regularity of local bomb blasts have given law enforcement all the justification they require to rapidly expand this seemingly omnipresent canine force. With an increase in state canine surveilance, demand for NTCD training has skyrocketed. Since 1979, the Centre has been responsible for the training of the dogs and handlers of the BSF, various arms of the central police,