SAN MIGUEL DE LOS JAGÜEYEZ, Mexico — In the center of a army base exterior Mexico City, a military colonel runs what he calls a kindergarten for dogs.
Puppies that in the future will change into rescue dogs, or sniffer dogs for medication or explosives, get their basic coaching right here, at Mexico’s Army and Air Force Canine Production Center. The puppies are born and spend their first 4 months on the facility, earlier than being despatched to army items across the nation for extra specialised coaching.
Founded in 1998, the middle has prior to now produced breeds similar to German Shepherds and Rottweilers.
Now, it solely breeds Belgian Malinois — about 300 of them a yr.
“It’s a very intelligent dog, it’s a dog with a lot of hardiness, very resistant to diseases,” mentioned Col. Alejandro Camacho Ibarra, a veterinarian and the middle’s director. It is the Mexican army’s solely such manufacturing facility, and Camacho mentioned it might be the biggest in Latin America.
The primarily green-and-white, one-story buildings appear to be any others on the army camp within the State of Mexico, close to Mexico City. But the distinction right here is within the sounds that fill the air: high-pitch barking from dozens of puppies scattered by way of its maternities and coaching camps.
Precautions listed below are strict due to a recent canine parvovirus outbreak that sickened among the puppies. Visitors are disinfected with a twig, and should step right into a watery answer to wash shoe soles. Only army personnel can contact the puppies. If you need to get shut, it’s essential put on scrubs, shoe protectors and a masks, however you continue to can’t maintain or pet the animals.
The coaching begins early in life, a couple of month after start as soon as the weaning course of finishes. And every little thing is taught as a recreation.
“We start playing with the dog,” Camacho mentioned. The thought is to attract them to gadgets that trainers name “attractors” — like a ball or a rag — and puppies are challenged to catch them. “Every time it holds his prey, it’s rewarded, congratulated, and it learns to go after that prey, after that attractor,” Camacho added.
Unlike in civilian life, the place puppies typically get meals treats, within the army the one prize for a job nicely performed is a caress and a few reward.
In one part of the camp, there’s a path with obstacles together with rocks, a tunnel, a piece of empty plastic bottles to clamber over, a ladder and tires.
A soldier beckons the little dogs with a rag they need to seize. The brown puppies with black snouts begin operating by way of the path, leaping over the rocks and crossing the obstacles. One takes the lead and the second struggles to cross over the plastic bottles, but additionally finishes. Both go to chunk the rag the soldier holds.
“Very, very good, sons! Very good, boys,” he repeats whereas dragging the puppies as they preserve their grasp on the rag for a number of moments.
Camacho explains that the puppies are identified by a quantity till they’re three months old, when they’re given a correct title. Each yr, the middle provides names in keeping with a single letter of the alphabet. In 2023, that letter is “F.”
Febo, Frodo, Fósil, Forraje and Fido are a few of this yr’s names.
The basic coaching ends when the puppies are 4 months old. Then, they transfer to different army items to change into specialists in detection of medicine or explosive, in search and rescue or in safety and safety.
The present authorities of Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has relied closely on the armed forces for varied initiatives, from public security to the building of airports and a vacationer prepare line. And Okay-9 items have been a key factor of among the army’s actions, just like the detection of medicine.
Col. Camacho mentioned that some dogs born on the heart have been educated to detect fentanyl, an artificial opioid trafficked by Mexican cartels that has been blamed for about 70,000 overdose deaths per yr within the United States.
That type of specialised coaching occurs elsewhere, however the colonel says it builds on his heart’s basic coaching through the use of “attractor” objects however having them impregnated with the scent of what the dogs want to trace, similar to a drug.
Dogs retire from their army service after eight years, Camacho says.
Many of the dogs have change into unsung heroes of missions in Mexico and overseas. Occasionally they change into publicly identified, like a German Shepherd named Proteo who was a part of a rescue crew despatched in February to Turkey after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed greater than 40,000 individuals.
Proteo died in the course of the seek for survivors of the quake. A statue of him now stands on the heart.
Another canine that made headlines in Mexico and overseas was a yellow Labrador retriever rescue canine named Frida. The Navy canine gained fame within the days following Mexico’s Sept. 19, 2017, earthquake that left greater than 300 lifeless within the capital. She retired in 2019 and died in 2022.
Col. Camacho mentioned that the dogs have a symbiotic relationship with their handlers throughout their working life within the army.
“The dog uses us to survive, but we also use the dog to do a job,” he mentioned. “So it’s a coordinated work the place we each get a profit.”
