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NDRF's brand new dog rescue team will now tackle emergency mission

Updated on: 17 November,2017 05:38 PM IST  |  Mumbai
Asif Rizvi | asif.ali@mid-day.com

New Special 11 dog rescue team has been equipped to tackle emergency missions like the US marine force; can slide down from helicopters, sniff humans from beneath debris in seconds

NDRF's brand new dog rescue team will now tackle emergency mission

In a first, the Maharashtra National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has inducted 11 dogs into its special rescue squad trained not just in sniffing but also participate in aerial transport during emergency missions across the country. The squad, which has been trained on the lines of the US marine dogs, will be used to detect human scent beneath debris during disaster relief.



One of the dogs strapped to the back of his handler


They have completed their training and can respond quickly in extreme situations," confirmed Anupam Srivastava, commandant of NDRF.


Top class squad
The NDRF battalion is expected to have a total of 16 dogs in its force. Of these, 11 have received advanced training by the elite National Security Guards (NSG) and NDRF.

The dogs being airlifted as part of the training
The dogs being airlifted as part of the training

Explaining the need for such a force, Kumar Raghvendra, assistant commandment, NDRF, said, "During disasters, our response time has to be quick. The canines in our battalion play an important part in rescue missions. In cases when there is a building collapse, they can find people stuck beneath debris within a minimum of 30 seconds."

However, what gives this squad more ammo is the fact that, for the first time in the history of the force, the dogs have been trained for aerial transport experiences during emergency missions. Apart from that they've also been trained in 'heli slithering', which involves teaching them to slide down to the ground from choppers, along with their handlers, using ropes and safety belts from a standard height of 30 to 40 feet. As of now, two dogs have been assigned to three NDRF personnel each.


The NDRFâÂÂu00c2u0080ÂÂu00c2u0088team that the trained dog squad will now work with

The NDRF, which in the past has been involved in disaster rescue operations like the deluge in Uttarakhand and Chennai, and the earthquake that struck Nepal in 2015, said that training dogs for aerial operations would definitely come in handy in the future.

Rigorous training
The dogs, which include only purebred Labradors and German Shepherds, were purchased when they were as young as four months old.

They started basic training at the Odisha and Ghaziabad dog training centres of the NDRF. The basic training, which began when they were six months old, involved acquainting them with their handler, followed by obedience training. A few months on, they were taught advanced tricks to aid personnel in rescuing people trapped under debris. For this, the dogs were given specialised urban search and rescue tasks, where they had to sift through mounds of rubble to look for life trapped beneath collapsed concrete. Their response timings were monitored. The entire training lasted around 36 weeks.

Explaining how they operate, an NDRF personnel said, "They first sniff the rescue site and on finding people they stop at the spot and give hints to their handler either by just constantly staring at the spot back or just barking."

The NDRF, which has a total of 300 dogs countrywide, now hopes to extend the rope sliding training to other dogs as well.

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