Sniffing Out Death in Afghanistan


They work millimeters from deadly devices designed to pulverize limbs within the blink of the eye, and they do it all for one sweet, fleeting romp with a rubber ball. They are the German Shepherds who help sniff out the 56 different types of anti-personnel and anti-tank mines that infest Afghanistan after more than two decades of war.

These four-legged heroes have a daunting amount of work; Afghanistan ranks as one of the most heavily contaminated countries in the world. The German Shepherds, however, are well equipped to tackle the problem as members of the largest and most experienced mine action programmes in the world – the Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (MAPA).

The United Nations started the MAPA, an umbrella organization comprised of organizations dedicated to minefield and battlefield survey, clearance and mine risk education, to assist refugees returning to Afghanistan after the Soviets left the country in 1989. The MAPA has expanded from about 400 Afghan deminers in 1990 to a workforce of about 8,000 Afghans. Many have become some of the world’s best mine action experts and have gone on to work in Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, Tajikistan and Somalia and in the UN headquarters in New York to share their expertise.

No one can doubt the dedication of these men to clear their country of mines, but it’s their four-legged co-workers who seem to enjoy their job the most. There’s Sheewa, a six-year-old German Shepherd, who works quietly, intently and obediently in the minefield but demands hugs when she’s off duty. And Dan, a two-year-old German Shepherd, who will cut short his streak across an obstacle course on command to show off his ability to stand charmingly on hind legs. Then there’s Bojar, a four-year-old black German Shepherd, who has eyes only for his handler and the maturity to sit zen-like in the middle of a skirmish between two dogs.

They are just three of the roughly 200 dogs that work across Afghanistan in support of other demining methods, including manual demining, who involves humans scouring the ground with metal detectors and prodding centimeter by centimeter in search of mines, and mechanical clearance, which uses massive machines to churn up the ground to expose mines.

“German Shepherds are a very versatile dog,” said Gavin Gillham, the mine detection dog technical advisor at the United Nations Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA), which oversees mine action on behalf of the government of Afghanistan. “Most people turn to German Shepherds because of agility, the ability to adapt to different requirements like scent tracking or guarding. They are more effective than other types of dogs. German Shepherds learn quickly.”
While the vast majority of the mine detections dogs, or MDDs as they are called, are German Shepherds, there is another breed that makes the grade in Afghanistan. A handful of Belgian Malinois dogs, which are a variety of the Belgian Shepherd dog, work with the German Shepherds. The two breeds look like close cousins, with the Malinois a somewhat smaller dog with lighter bones. The Malinois is considered more alert and faster to respond than the German Shepherd, but also more sensitive, which can make training more difficult.

It’s All in the Nose

The use of dogs for demining purposes began in World War II, but dogs have only been recognized as a significant contributor to global humanitarian demining in the last few years. Dogs can detect extremely low concentrations of many substances and are used as one of the main detection tools. In fact, dogs are capable of detecting concentrations that are several times lower than the threshold of the best technological “sniffers”.
Dogs in general have a nose about a hundred thousand to millions of times more sensitive than a human's. Their brains are equipped with a very large olfactory lobe that can process a large amount of incoming smell information from their sensitive nose. The lobe is four times larger than in humans, even though the overall human brain is much larger. The sensory tissues deep in the nasal cavity also have an extremely large surface area compared to humans, and the receptors that process the molecules carrying odors are significantly more sensitive than those of humans.
A typical German Shepherd has 220 million sensory cells compared with a human's 5 million. Once scent molecules reach the dog, moisture in the nasal cavities helps to trap the molecules for processing. The nasal cavities inside the muzzle are formed into complex coiled caverns lined with special sensory cells.
Dogs have the incredible ability to detect landmines by smelling the explosives in the mines. The dogs are trained to locate the scent, sit still, stay safe, and alert a human partner to mark the spot so the mine can be destroyed. This skill, as well as the dog’s agility and size, makes the dog a valuable asset in demining.
Dogs are at their best when indicating individual mines, rather than concentrations of mines. Dogs can work fast in areas with a low density of mines and are best for detecting the boundaries of minefields. Manual demining teams can then be deployed to deal with a much reduced minefield area.

Getting a Solid Education

Not just any dog makes the cut in the demanding, and deadly, field of mine detection in Afghanistan. Starting from puppyhood, each dog must go through a rigorous education that includes identifying explosives, working in different types of terrain, socializing with people and obedience to the dog handler.

The puppies start their schooling at a tender three months of age. This first stage, called “socialization”, is similar to children’s pre-school, with a heavy emphasis on playing games and interacting with people and other dogs. Socialization can also include walks for the dogs through Kabul, which often draws many curious stares from passersby. Pets are not common in Afghanistan, and dogs are considered by some to be dirty creatures.
Dogs then enter “explosives training” where they are introduced to the different explosives contained in the mines littering Afghanistan. Afghanistan is currently contaminated with 56 different types of mines originating from ten different countries like the United States, Iran, Italy and Russia. Although the shapes and sizes and purposes of the mines differ, the explosives used in them are the same.
The dogs then start “student training” where they will meet the most important person in their working life: the dog handler. The dog handler works with the dog for the rest of its life, commanding it safely through the minefield and rewarding the dog with verbal praise and the much-sought after rubber ball when a mine is found. Sometimes the meeting isn’t always a love match, and a different handler will have to be found for a dog until the right pair is found.
“In order to be good handler you must have a good relationship with the dog,” said Naimatullah, a 30-year-old who has worked as a dog handler for four years and said he regards his dog as his “son.”


The dogs then graduate to pre-deployment training, where they learn to work in different terrains. The dogs work best in clear open country with vegetation no higher than calf to knee height.
The dogs are tested within a few weeks of birth to assess their potential and regularly thereafter during their training and deployment in the field. Those that exhibit anti-social behavior such as biting are euthanized, while those that lack the drive to be a mine detection dog or are not physically fit enough are found good homes with one of the many expatriates in Afghanistan.

For the Love of the Ball

The dog's reward for finding explosive is not food, it is a rubber ball – and the handler’s verbal excitement that comes with that ball. Since detecting explosives is a game for the dog, the dog's performance depends on his mood and his interest in playing.

The dog handler must be a constant judge of his dog’s mood in the minefield and know when to give the dog a rest or bring a fresh dog into the field.
“Their reward is the ball. It’s all game,” Gillham said. “A lot has to due with verbal excitement. A dog has intense drive because it wants to please its handler. When you train dog handlers, it’s important to train them in dog psychology.”

The German Shepherds can work up to eight years on average, and often with the same dog handler. The partnership formed between the handler and the dog is a lifelong one. The bond is so strong that if the dog is killed or injured in a mine accident, the handler may be upset for many months afterwards.

“This is my best friend, how would you feel if your best friend died?” said 26-year-old dog handler Shukrullah, looking down affectionately at his panting best friend.
 


Article courtesy of  Denise Duclaux

External Relations Officer

United Nations Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA)