Lotte may look soft and cuddly, but she’s not a pet – she’s a dog with a job. And in 2024, she’ll bring her bomb-sniffing skills to the NATO Response Force.
Synopsis
Meet Lotte, a 'High Assurance Search Dog' who is getting ready to serve for the NATO Response force (NRF), the Alliance’s on-call crisis response unit.
Military working dogs are pups with a job. From serving as scouts for Special Operations Forces or sniffing out bombs for Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians, they are vital to Allied forces. Dogs from the British Army 1st Military Working Dog Regiment are preparing to support the NATO Response Force – NATO’s high-readiness force – in 2024. Working with the Light Mechanised Brigade Combat Team, these dogs will be tasked with keeping NATO’s soldiers safe from bomb threats. They will be based in the United Kingdom and kept at a high state of readiness.
While they may look soft and cuddly, these dogs are not pets. For military commanders, their mission is considered ‘no-fail’: if an explosive detection dog fails to detect a hidden bomb, it could put both canine and human lives at risk. Thus, their training programmes are long and intensive, preparing them to do their job without being distracted by humans.
Transcript
—SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH—
GRAPHIC
LANCE CORPORAL JAMES SMITH
1st Military Working Dog Regiment, British Army
“This is Lotte. She is a Belgian Malinois. And she is a High Assurance Search Dog.
The High Assurance Search Dog is trained to search up to 30 metres.
She’s trained to find surface laid and buried IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and component parts. When Lotte’s searching and she finds a target scent, she’ll provide a sit and stare indication.
She can be in this indication for quite some time until it’s safe to issue the recall.”
GRAPHIC
LOTTE AND HER HANDLER
ARE PREPARING FOR DEPLOYMENT
WITH THE NATO RESPONSE FORCE,
WHICH RAPIDLY RESPONDS
TO SECURITY CRISES
TO KEEP OUR PEOPLE SAFE
-SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH-
LANCE CORPORAL JAMES SMITH
1st Military Working Dog Regiment, British Army
“When Lotte is working, she will be wearing her harness. It's a very lightweight harness, just used to give the handler more control.
She's also worked off a 30-metre flat line. So this clips up to her collar and then it sits under her left arm giving me the ability to steer her left or right when searching.
So it's important that we conduct continuation training with the dogs every day. Just so that we can maintain such high standards.
Good girl!”
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