The dog breed that sniffed out Osama Bin Laden joins Army’s counter terror force

New Delhi, Nov 29: On Sunday, the counter-terrorism unit of the Indian Army welcomed the Belgian Malinois' Canines to its canine squad.

Belgian Malinois are squarely built, proud, and alert herders standing 22 to 26 inches. Strong and well-muscled, but more elegant than bulky, there's an honest, no-frills look about them, as befit dogs built to work hard for their feed. A breed hallmark is the proud carriage of the head. Coat colors range from a rich fawn to mahogany. The black ears and mask accentuate bright, questioning eyes the color of dark Belgian chocolate, says the American Kennel Club.

The Indian Army said that these dogs have excellent agility , intelligence, trainability, endurance, stamina and bite work. The CRPF were the first to use them in anti naxalite operations. Later on the dogs were also adopted by the ITPB and NSG as well.

It would be interesting to note that this was the same breed that sniffed out Osama Bind Lade and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In 2018, these dogs were trained by the CISF to thwart fedayeen attacks both in the Delhi Metro and the Indira Gandhi International Airport. It may be recalled that these dogs had been deployed in the Kaziranga national park for anti-poaching activities.

The CISF had said that their existing dog squad was good at detecting explosives, but the Belgian Malinois' Canines are good at detecting suicide bombers. The CISF had also conducted an exercise to test the ability of these canines.

Their men posed as terrorists and tied explosives around them. The dogs were let off to detect the explosives. Our existing squad has expertise in detecting explosives but their role in detecting fidayeen attackers was not so impactful.

Well-raised and trained Malinois are usually active, intelligent, friendly, protective, alert and hard-working. Belgian Malinois exhibit energy levels that are among the highest of all dog breeds. A typical Malinois will have puppy-like energy until the age of three, though it is not uncommon for them to exhibit this energy level until the age of five. Many have excessively high prey drive. Some may be excessively exuberant or playful, especially when young.

They can be destructive or develop neurotic behaviors if not provided enough stimulation and exercise.

This often causes problems for owners who are unfamiliar with the breed and are not prepared to provide the exercise they require or a job for them to do. They are medium-sized, strong dogs that require consistent obedience training, and enjoy being challenged with new tasks. They are known to be very easy to train, due to their high drive for rewards.

In Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and other European countries, as well as in the United States, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong, the Malinois is bred primarily as a working dog for personal protection, detection, police work, search and rescue, and sport work like Schutzhund.

The United States Secret Service and Royal Australian Air Force use the breed along with other working lines such as Dutch Shepherd, and also GSD. In the United States Armed Forces, German shepherds lead the way, but close behind follows the Belgian Malinois.