Cyprus mission: March 5 to March 12, 2017
The French team was made up of two dog handler supervisors, each one with his dog, and a
veterinarian/ technical dog handler supervisor of Val d’Oise (95). The first dog handler
supervisor is the adviser of Essone (91) and the second one is the leader of the dog handler
unity in Val d’Oise.
1/ Reception
The preparation stage happened in coordination with Tiina Ristmäe (German organization
“T.H.W”) through emails and phone calls, which were very efficient.
When we arrived, the reception has been very warm. The Civil Defense’s members, the staff
and the dog handlers were here for us.
The accommodation and food service conditions have been satisfactory.
The caring for the French search and rescue dogs has been in compliance with our
transportation, security and accommodation wishes.
All the technical remarks that appear next (parts 2 to 7) concern all the dog handler teams from
the Civil Defense and the Cypriot firemen.
2/ Initial assessment
This stage began on March 6 for the first dogs of the Cypriot Civil Defense and on March 7 for
the other dogs of the Civil Defense and for the ones of the firemen.
The technical levels turned out to be very unequal for the search and rescue dogs. It went from
“insufficient” to “very good” without any link with their age (the dogs were from 16 months old
to 6 years old) or with the number of performed trainings.
The three canine breeds in the ten dog handler teams were Labrador Retriever (5 dogs),
Belgian Malinois (3 dogs) and German Shepherd Dog (2 dogs).
3/ Exercise proceedings
Each day, several exercises are organized to make the dog handler teams work in varied
grounds (debris, natural ruins, forest, sand…).
Different types of hiding places are set up so that each dog can work according to different
conditions of aroma diffusion.
Several working groups are created according to the technical level of the dogs. Thus, it was
easier to adapt the difficulty of the exercise to the dog potential.
The exercises are done three times so that the dog handler team can assimilate the technical
gestures and the dog can avoid an increasing fatigue.
All the exercises are done by the French dog handler teams before or after the Cypriot ones.
This practice was appreciated by the Cypriots.
At the end of the day, an individual debriefing closes the trainings and it finishes with the
questions from everyone.
4/ PowerPoint presentation of the missions of the Civil Security veterinary
At the beginning of the week, some presentations happened when the outside temperatures
were at their highest.
They were about the Civil Security veterinarian’s added value during the engagement of the
dog handler teams. The main topics of this presentation were:
- The daily assessment methods of the canine resources
- The anticipation of physical fatigues and metabolic disorders
- The medical and surgical operational health support
- The operational return validation of the medicalized dogs
Other added values were presented more quickly. They were about:
- The available veterinary medical help of the local demands
-
The health support of the foodstuffs with water, which is considered as food
The knowledge of the environment and of the zoonotic risks in external operations.
At the end of the week, extra presentations happened following the cancellation of the search
exercise in a natural habitat because of the rain. The topics were:
- The training techniques of dogs with a reminder of the basics seen during the week
- The operational engagement of search and rescue dogs with a role-playing based on
the exercise of the day
5/ Lines of progression set up
During the exchange week, the importance of the victim role to train the dog was largely shown
and developed.
The dog handler’s technical role has been better defined, in particular at the moment of the
localization of the victim in training.
After some technical recommendations, the dog handlers have modified the behavior of their
dog in order to improve their effectiveness of research.
The French experts set every advanced technical argument out verbally. Then, all the French
dog handlers performed them in front of everybody.
The lines of progression for the dog handlers are mainly about the motivation of the dog, the
fixation on the victim and on the bark but also about the detachment and the steerability of the
dog.
An increase of the technical level of all the dog handler teams was noticed very quickly and
some technical difficulties could be fixed efficiently.
The lines of progression for the operational health support of the search and rescue dogs are
about:
- The knowledge of the prevention of health risks (food, parasitism, endemic diseases,
vaccinal deficiency, infectious risks, envenimations/intoxications, wounds…)
- The approach of the operation traumatology
6/ Suggestions
- Quickly plan two or three future dog handler trainers’ technical training
- Organize the visit of the technical areas in France (such as the Villejust site – French
department 91) and the monitoring of the trainings on these areas in order to see the
work of the dogs
- Then, quickly plan to build technical areas in Cyprus, their current lack defaulting
painfully
- Help to organize a dog handler training based on a Cypriot educational course
- Organize common trainings of all the dog handler teams: about twice a month to notice
the technical mistakes and to fix them as quickly as possible
Moreover
- Perform again the basic exercises done during the exchange week
- Repeat regularly the different exercises
- Increase gradually the difficulty level to make the dogs progress
- Plan a complete care of material means and travel costs to enable the volunteers from
the dog handler teams to come training regularly and to make up for their absence at
work, for the material spends such as fuel
- Realize a book for the monitoring of work for each dog indicating the proposed
exercises and the observations of the work done
- Develop the bases of the operational health support of the search and rescue dogs:
- Know how to preserve the canine resources on search areas
- The canine first-aid gestures must be taught by the dog handler supervisor
- Include a Cypriot veterinarian within the specialty
7/ Conclusion
The mission in Cyprus was very appreciated by the French experts. The organization was very
satisfactory, the Civil Defense staff was always welcoming and the dog handler supervisors
were very motivated.
The Cypriot dog handler teams were very interesting by the technical exchanges throughout
the mission and they showed a real will to progress.
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To conclude, in a first phase:
- Think about an ordered training system with certifications at the end of it
- Develop the theoretical and practical technical trainings for the dog handler
supervisors, the future dog handler trainers and the hired veterinarian
- Organize veterinary trainings on the special feature of dog handler search, on canine
first aid and on the identification of zoonotic risks for the staff and fir the search and
rescue dogs
Then, in the field of expert veterinary assessment in a situation of a disaster, it will be
interesting to develop an expert assessment in water sanitation and to introduce an
epidemiological approach as for biological risks and for the environment.
s&p o m
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VeterinarymajorManuelMERSCH
Technicaldoghandleradviser
S.S.S.M.
S.D.I.S.95
Phone:06.23.98.18.80.
Email:[email protected]
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