Punjab opens canine training centre for security, policing

The Government of Punjab in association with a private firm has set up a canine training centre to train dogs for security and policing.

The International Tactical and Canine Training Centre (ITAC), a joint venture between the state government and the ESD Network, has brought in trainers from the US to train dogs and their handlers.

The centre is located in Sundraan near Dera Bassi city.

The instructors in centre are from the US with an experience in SWAT teams and US secret service. They have been certified with ATF (Alcohol Tobacco Firearms) department from US.

The centre aims to train to at least 60- 70 dogs every month on real narcotics and explosives.

After the training, the trainers test the dog in real-life situation, like they recently took the dogs to Chandigarh jail in order to find narcotics.

The cost varies with different modules of training. The prices are different for training dogs and training both handlers and dogs.

Newton Sidhu, Managing partner of ESD Network, said that the training imparted at ITAC was different from all existent dog training centres in the country.

"In India, traditionally the training was of 32 weeks but we are doing it in 12 weeks and we do training on food and rewards. Instead of the traditional training in India which is play and reward after which dog becomes very sloppy after sometime, in our training the dog is trained totally throughout the day from 8 to 2 and seven days a week without having rest. He only eats when he finds something, so that's the difference between our training and traditional training," said Sidhu on July 21.

Derek Matthews, Managing Director of ITAC, said that the training of dog handlers was equally important.

"The difficult part of our training is that discipline is required. We need a very high quality of handlers who understand that if you leave a dog for a day he is not eating. So he's got to eat everyday, he has to be training everyday and if you cannot do that, he'll be difficult to control to work. So, we consider dogs who work in all these conditions; working in 48 degrees heat, working in coal, heavy rain because they are working in order to eat," said Mathews

Many industrialists are contacting the centre in order to train their dogs for better security, the first alumni being Reliance Industries Limited chief Mukesh Ambani's dog Angaar.

The centre that shares its facility with Punjab home guards has been built with an initial investment of Rs.10 crores. The duration of training for a dog is five weeks while that of his handler's is 6-10 weeks.