Inside Ukraine’s rescue dog academy

Meet the pups keeping Ukraine safe: sniffing out mines, searching for survivors, and helping Nastia overcome her fears.

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By: Ann Starkey

Walking to school as a second-grader, my biggest fear came true.

A large local stray dog ran up. I just stood there crying hysterically, as she jumped on my chest with her front paws.

My parents had always told me, “Don’t trust dogs and don’t approach large ones, they are animals first of all.”

The dog who attacked me that morning was a pretty big one. She had no home, but always followed local kids. That day, she simply wanted to play at least once with me, as I always avoided her before.

Despite my fears, deep inside, I always knew: even half of the love a dog has in its heart would never fit in a human’s one. And nowhere would it become more clear than during wartime.

Ukraine is among the most heavily mined countries in the world, with about a quarter of its land laden with explosives.

This week, Russia carried out one of the biggest ballistic missile attacks — none of the missiles were intercepted. The weakness of air defense against ballistic threats leads to more direct hits on residential buildings, leaving many people trapped under the rubble.

This is where rescue dogs step in.

Where human emergency responders wear down from the tough circumstances they operate in, dogs think about emotions differently (just ask the German Shepherd who jumped on seven-year-old me).

For them, search and rescue operations are games. And after three-and-a-half years of war, they are getting really good at them: across Ukraine, dogs and their handlers are setting the international standard for canine search and rescue — and opening their training for others to learn for other international crises.

After the paywall:

• The day-to-day routine of police dogs;

• Nastia’s story of overcoming fear of dogs;

• How puppies become professional rescuers of victims stuck under debris;

• How their senses can save lives and restore Ukrainian territories after occupation.