Forces told to begin large-scale breeding of K9s to meet demand

NEW DELHI: In his Mann ki Baat radio address last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appreciated the role dogs have played over the years in protecting national security. Around the same time, the ground was already being laid for strengthening dog squads of security forces across the country.

The ministry of home affairs recently issued guidelines asking the Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) to undertake large-scale breeding of Police Service K9s, or PSKs, not only to meet their own requirements but also for other central/state police forces.

The three paramilitary forces, which have well-established dog breeding and training centres and specialized veterinary officers, have been asked to diversify PSKs by introducing breeds like the Springer Spaniel, Cocker Spaniel, Belgian Shepherd Malinois, Working Line German Shepherd, Beagle, Dutch Shepherd, Blood Hound and other breeds in Indian K9 units.

They have been given permission to procure quality K9 breeding stock from the open market or import it, if necessary, to meet the requirement of security forces, according to the guidelines reviewed by HT. State police forces had 1,470 sniffer dogs and 790 tracker dogs and the central armed police forces (or paramilitary forces) 1,702 sniffer dogs and 407 tracker dogs in 2019.

The number of trained dogs in InThe number of trained dogs in Indian armed forces and police departments is very low, experts say.

Former CRPF director general K Durga Prasad said: “It’s an undisputed fact that dogs do excellent jobs in anti-sabotage checks, camp security and sniffing explosives. Yet there is a huge shortage of dogs in all the forces.”