BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA TO GET FIRST TRAINED SEARCH AND RESCUE DOGS

Bosnia and Herzegovina will soon have its first trained search and rescue dogs. Training for five teams across three local communities is in its final phase, with the first exams expected to take place in November. The importance of search dogs was most evident during the recent disaster in Donja Jablanica.

PHOTO: BHRT

Since February, Nenad Jovanović, a member of the Mountain Rescue Service (GSS) Bijeljina, has been training with his dog Kia according to international standards for search and rescue dogs. Kia has mastered key disciplines – rubble search and wilderness search – and will take her first certification exam in November.

“The training consists of obedience and search work. The plan is to take the first standardized exams in November. Dogs must be socialized, non-aggressive, and friendly with people,” said Jovanović.

The Bijeljina team is one of five in Bosnia and Herzegovina taking part in the country’s first official search dog training program. After completing the program, three dogs will be stationed in Sarajevo, one in Široki Brijeg, while others will remain in Bijeljina.

Search dogs are trained to detect even the faintest traces of human scent under rubble. Studies confirm their remarkable efficiency – one trained dog can cover the same area as dozens of human rescuers. “Despite all the technology we have, a dog cannot be replaced – it can detect a live person up to ten meters deep under rubble,” added Jovanović.

The training program is part of the “Rescue Paws” project run by the humanitarian organization Pomozi.ba. “One dog can search an area as large as that of ten people,” said Davorin Sekulić, the project’s coordinator.

Near Sarajevo, the first rubble training field for dogs has been constructed – the only one of its kind in the region. It will serve as the venue for exams as well as future training sessions for Bosnia and Herzegovina’s search and rescue dog teams.