The Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) has successfully bred 17 puppies, which are in line to become the next generation of explosive detection dogs.
The newborn pups were born of two mothers on Tuesday under the vigilant care of veterinarians. Of the pups, 11 were female and six were male.
These newborn puppies were bred domestically, but their original ancestry was from abroad.
H.E. Heng Ratana, CMAC’s Director-General, expressed his pleasure to welcome the newborn puppies.
H.E. Heng Ratana said, ‘Congratulations for the new year 2024 – 17 new puppies have been born, marking the next generation of explosive detection dogs.’
He said, ‘The number of detection dogs we have right now isn’t enough, and we continue to breed more dogs.’
‘Nearly 300 detection dogs are working in Cambodia, while many others are going through their training right now,’ he said.
‘Our explosive-sniffing dogs need to be replaced constantly, because some of them are retired and some were sent abroad to support our partner organi
sation,’ he said.
‘In general, detection dogs work for 12 years, but most of them must retire after about nine years, depending on their condition,’ H.E. Heng Ratana added.
He noted that at CMAC, separate kennels are reserved for newborn pups and grown-up dogs. Newborns are kept separate from others because their young immune systems are not yet developed, and so they are more vulnerable to disease.
‘We separate the dogs depending on their age,’ the CMAC director general said.
‘When the dogs grow up to the age of three to six months, then they need to enter training, and then they will be placed into a new facility for their training period,’ he added.
He noted that sniffer dogs at CMAC are trained from the time they are one-week-old until they turn six months. Once they are six months old, they need to start learning technical skills for another three to six months before they can become fully fledged explosive detection dogs.
H.E. Heng Ratana said, ‘In the coming weeks, four more dogs will be giving b
irth, form which the pups will also become the successors to the current generation.’
He added that explosive detection dogs have made a significant contribution to the clearance of landmines in the country and to speeding up the work of mine clearance.
In the past, Cambodia used to source sniffer dogs from overseas and they were purchased from foreign suppliers.
However, today Cambodia breeds the dogs domestically and also supplies them to foreign countries.
According to CMAC, Cambodia first began using explosive detection dogs for clearance operations in 1996.
Twelve dogs were imported from several different countries, including Germany, Belgium and Bosnia.
Each animal was priced between US$30,000 and US$50,000. Then, with training support from Sweden, Cambodia began breeding the dogs at home from 2002.
Source: Agence Kampuchea Presse
