Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian occupation forces, the staff of the Lviv Police Dog Training Centre and their pets have made more than ten rotations to the combat zone, working in the Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Kherson areas.
They search for explosives, caches of weapons and ammunition, drugs and search for people.
To date, service dogs are the most effective “tool” for solving some specific tasks that neither humans nor technology can do. Not every dog can become a service dog, and not every service dog can perform combat missions. However, if a dog manages to prove itself in a combat zone and “gives results”, it can be considered a lucky ticket, because thousands of years of evolution have made them the best human assistants and service is their vocation.
The Dog Training Centre of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Lviv Oblast has 32 service dogs. Most of them are German shepherds, Belgian Malinois shepherds and Labrador retrievers.
Dog handlers are reluctant to talk about themselves, but they can talk about their pets for hours. They are proud of them.
“Almost every month, our dog handler and his service dog go to the combat zone and work there according to the direction, depending on the tasks assigned. We have provided a lot of assistance in finding caches of ammunition and weapons. Every grenade, cartridge or mine we find means someone’s life is saved,” says Yaroslav Dmitriev, deputy head of the Lviv Police Dog Training Centre, police captain.
The dog handlers have to work in close proximity to the contact line, and sometimes the line approaches them – suddenly and unexpectedly. Therefore, the dog must be not only well-trained, but also stress-resistant – not afraid of shots and explosions, and work in extreme conditions.
“We had a training exercise to clear the territory. The guys with dogs were searching the yard for explosives and weapons, and there was an ambush in the neighbouring house – the ‘orcs’ were sitting there, and our fighters were knocking them out. When the guys stood at the checkpoints, sabotage groups came nearby. So it’s not a walk in the woods – it’s a war zone, and the situation can change at any second,” says Yaroslav.
That’s why dog handlers and service dogs need to be ready for any situation and any task 24/7. A separate topic is the evacuation of the population. Here, the presence of a service dog also has a psychotherapeutic effect. People, especially children, who are under stress, become calmer when they see a trained dog and are more likely to cooperate with law enforcement.
“If civilians are being evacuated, or if they are leaving the war zone for a ‘peaceful’ area, they are so stressed that they do not want to communicate. And then a person sees a dog handler in uniform and with a dog, and they start talking, so the dog is a catalyst for communication. If people want to pet the dog, they ask what its name is and how old it is. The first people who want to talk to the dog are small children,” says the police captain.
A dog handler and a dog are ineffective without each other, but together they are a reliable team whose clear and coordinated actions save lives. In order to achieve results, these two must feel each other well, know the peculiarities of their characters, and be able to adapt. Experienced dog handlers note that dogs help to overcome stressful situations and get out of a depressed state after an injury or contusion.
“For me, a dog is first and foremost my friend, like a child to me, you could say. You take a dog as a little puppy, it grows up before your eyes, you train it, invest a lot of time, a lot of nerves, but when the dog starts working, it’s an incredible feeling. I am proud of her,” concludes Yaroslav Dmitriev.
Lviv regional police communication department