by Namini Wijedasa
Max is highly-qualified, has beguiling eyes and is very handsome. Besides which, he holds one hell of a job.

The trim German Shepherd spends his days stepping around some of Sri Lanka’s most loaded mine-fields with his nose to the ground, sniffing out explosives and generally earning the envy of the doggie kingdom. Thanks to his hefty resume, Max costs a whopping US$ 15,000 on the market.

Max is one of four sniffer dogs working in Sri Lanka, part of the American mine-clearing firm RONCO/Global. The company is here on a contract funded by the US Department of State. Comprising mainly of Mozambican de-miners, it’s the only team in Sri Lanka using dogs. At present, they are clearing tracts of land in Sarasalai off the Kandy-Jaffna A9 highway, led by two American experts — Don Smith and George.

Brett, Back and Ed are Max’s canine colleagues. All are around two years of age. Along with their human handlers and other members of the de-mining team, the dogs have helped detect more than 780 mines as well as over 80 locks and grenades since starting work in June. All mines found by RONCO are detonated.

How it works: Each dog has a personal handler. For instance, Max’s handler is Mack (we are told that the similarity in names is coincidental). Every day, Mack ties a long leash on Max and takes him to the mine-field. The field is divided into sections — using stakes and yellow tape — and there are safety lanes in between. Once man and dog reach the edge of a section, the handler slackens the leash allowing the dog to move freely within the area marked for clearing. The search is always up-wind, not against.

"Suk, suk,"Mack says encouragingly. The command is Dutch for "find" or "search." All four dogs are from the Netherlands and only Dutch language commands are used by RONCO.

"This not only promotes maximum operational efficiency by avoiding unnecessary dog training but also increases dog inter-operability between countries with all handlers using the same Dutch commands," explains the RONCO/Global Web site.

Thus, blaiven means "stay"; aft means "down"; plotch means "heel"; volguen means "walk" and quarter means "re-position".

Responding to both the commands and tone of his handler’s voice, Max sniffs the ground excitedly. When he detects explosives, he sits down and looks at his handler. At a signal from Mack, the dog bounds back for his reward — a bright red rubber ball. The pair then have a joyful tug-of-war with the ball which is a delight to watch. It is a well deserved recompense which the dogs revel in. On the field, meanwhile, human de-miners mark the spot which Max had isolated and the mine is subsequently exploded.

Each field is double-checked by another dog. The first is called Dog Number One and the second, Dog Number Two. The former is the more reliable fellow. The second is used to verify the work of the first.

"The efficacy of dogs in this kind of work really does depend on the terrain, the type of mines they are looking for and a whole bunch of other issues," commented Alex Van Roy, chief technical advisor (mine action) with the United Nations Development Programme. "But in general, dogs, used correctly, can increase the pace of de-mining or mine-clearing."

Although born in the Netherlands, these dogs have been around. They received obedience training and mine-clearing lessons in Zimbabwe and their field work in Sri Lanka is just a precursor to other overseas assignments. According to experts, it takes 12 to 14 weeks to prepare a dog for an overseas assignment, followed by eight to 10 weeks of intensive training with the dog-handler in the country where it will be working.

Before a dog sets out to work, handlers monitor several factors. This includes wind direction and force; elapsed time after rainfall; intensity, duration and volume of the rain event; degree of soil saturation after rainfall; presence or absence of spilled explosives; and soot, ashes or charcoal from a recent fire.

Dogs are most effective in flat terrain (paddy land, fields, etc.) and cannot operate in bush or scrub as they may find it hard to get through or get injured while working.

Mine-detecting dogs are known to have a sense of smell that is at least 1,000 times more sensitive than humans.

According to a section in the UN Web site on mine-detecting dogs, they can be trained to detect the scent of explosives and their containers (metal and plastic) embedded beneath the earth.

Each dog is trained to detect explosive odour signatures like TNT or the scent of monofilament line or metallic wire whether used on booby traps, mines or booby-trapped mines, says information on the RONCO Web site.

A great advantage in using dogs over metal detectors is that they can work where equipment can’t. Dogs are able to detect the odour of non-metallic or plastic encased mines as well as those found on steel bridges or railroad tracks where metal detectors are essentially useless. In addition, dogs are not foiled by iron bearing laterite soils, which cause detectors to ping incessantly.

In general, the dogs are effective at finding explosives up to 10 centimetres below the surface. Neither dogs nor metal detectors can easily find mines under 30 centimetres of heavy clay soil.

A de-mining dog’s training continues throughout his working life. "Even while they are on assignment, the dogs are trained everyday," explained Eliano Paul, assistant dog trainer. "A separate ten-by-ten training area is set aside and defused mines or explosives planted there for the dogs to sniff out." He elaborated that this kept the animals refreshed, interested and rewarded.

Both male and female dogs are used and have an average working life of six years. After retirement, de-mining dogs become pets. They are not destroyed.

Speaking on the relationship between the dog and the handler, Eliano noted that they preferred not to shuffle dogs and trainers because of the special bond they had. When a fully trained mine-detecting dog is deployed, therefore, he must initially work with the handler to whom he "bonded" during the training.

"A handler switch can be made later, but only after the dog is proven," said the RONCO Web site. "If a change is made, at least two weeks of proficiency training are needed for the new handler and dog in order to create a new bond."

One important factor in a de-mining dog’s life is diet. His weight is maintained at a safe 27 kg. For this, he is fed once a day on 250 g of dog food. There is no meat or fat. "They are used to this diet," explained Eliano, adding that they loved water.

Accidents are rare. There hasn’t been a single in Sri Lanka and Eliano could only speak of one incident he knew where a dog in Albania was "blown to pieces." This may be because the critters took their job pretty seriously. Eliano is convinced that, once on the field, the animals know they have a weighty job at hand.

One thing is for sure: these dogs will never be jobless. The world is too crowded with land-mines for that.