How are these dogs trained?
" In Khimki, northwest of Moscow, the capital, in the laboratory of the canine training center, dogs are trained to sniff jars containing samples of human urine. When the animal marks one of them, it receives a small piece of meat as a reward. If human urine is used for this detection, it is because it is the purest substance, without foreign smells of cosmetics or perfume, according to Elena Batayeva, the director of the Aeroflot canine training center. , the largest airline in the country. The manager explains that the virus itself has no smell, but the urine of patients smells differently."
" Elena Bataïeva wants to be reassuring by explaining that there is no risk of contamination for humans or dogs during these exercises. Dog handlers do not work with the virus. Urine does not contain it. She bases her statements on the findings of researchers from the Vektor Institute, a virology and biotechnology research center located in Koltsovo in Siberia, which is developing one of the Russian vaccines against SARS-coV-2."
The training of these canids could eventually make it possible to immediately detect COVID-19 patients by sniffing a passenger's mask or a sample of their saliva and thus help to strengthen security at Russian airports . At least that's what Vitali Saveliev, the general manager of the Russian airline hopes.
Chalaikas, outstanding detector dogs
The Aeroflot canine training center uses jackal dogs, called chalaïkas.The structure currently has 69 animals. This breed was obtained by crossing a laika, a hunting dog of Russian origin of the spitz type used to herd reindeer and a jackal. These dogs, with an excessively developed sense of smell, have been used for several years to detect the presence of explosives in Moscow airports.
Chalaikas were developed in 1977, during the time of the USSR, by the biologist Klim Soulimov, to respond to the thorny problem of drug trafficking that appeared at that time. As the laika dogs that worked alongside the police found it difficult to endure the hot climates of the Soviet republics of Central Asia, he had the idea of crossing them with a jackal from the southern regions.
After the dissolution of the USSR in December 1991, the chalaïka breed almost disappeared, but Aeroflot dog handlers planned to revive it, by creating a new cross between dogs and jackals.It has now been officially registered in Russia for 2 years.