First time training of Indian dog breeds for heli-borne commando ops, river rafting

Indian breed dogs like Mudhol Hound and Rampur Hound are being trained for the first time in undertaking high-risk commando operations like slithering down from a helicopter and river rafting by trainers of the Border Security Force (BSF).

This maiden exercise has been initiated by the Tekanpur (Madhya Pradesh) based National Training Centre for Dogs (NTCD) of the border force after it got “very positive” results and feedback on the working of these dogs in sniffing and detection duties over the past few years.

“About a dozen Indian breed dogs are being trained for the first time in undertaking precarious commando operations along with their handlers. They will slither down from a helicopter when commandos are inserted in a combat zone aerially.

“These dogs are also being trained for river rafting and conducting pack attacks to flush out terrorists from a hideout along with their special operations unit personnel,” a senior officer said.

A special adventure institute of BSF in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, is skilling the dogs for river rafting in the furious waters of the Ganga river flowing through the state while a Mi-17 chopper has been deployed for conducting slithering operations where commandos slide down from a low hovering helicopter to the ground using a sturdy rope, he said.

The dog is tied safely on the back of the commando using a harness and the canine gets into action as soon as the handler directs it to charge.

Federal commando force NSG is the only security organisation that has trained such helicopter slithered dogs but they are not Indian breeds but are the Belgian Malinois, the officer added.

Training and deployment of the Indian breed dogs in central and state police forces started after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio address in August 2020, urged citizens to adopt and promote such canines in line with his continuously stated them of self-reliant India (Atmanirbhar Bharat).

Prior to this, Modi had visited NTCD in 2018 during the annual police DG and IG conference and had urged BSF trainers to take up skilling of Indian breed dogs in security tasks.

“The results with Indian breed dogs have been very encouraging. Beginning with a 40 per cent satisfaction rate, their success has risen to almost 60-70 per cent and this is further scaling up,” BSF deputy inspector general (veterinary) GS Nag said.

He added that NTCD, since 2021, has trained almost 150 Mudhol Hound and Rampur Hound breed dogs till now who are now successfully working with various central armed police forces (CAPFs) and state police forces.

About 20 plus such dogs are currently under training at NTCD, Nag said.

BSF officials are particularly elated by the recent performance of their female Mudhol Hound dog ‘Riya’ who set new standards during All India Police Duty Meet held at Lucknow in 2024 becoming the first Indian breed dog to win both the ‘Best Tracker’ and ‘Best Dog of the Meet’ title, outshining 116 foreign breed competitors.

Experts said the Indian breed of dogs was now the preferred choice by the security forces given their agility, endurance, adaptability and resilience and being well-suited to India’s diverse geo-climatic conditions.

Their natural disease resistance, hardiness and low maintenance requirements make them particularly effective in hard and high-risk field environments, a CAPF dog trainer said.

Riya and her colleague Lily are expected to display their commando skills during the National Unity Day parade to be held at Gujarat’s Kevadia on October 31 in the presence of Modi.