A senior official from the Cambodian Mine Action Centre (CMAC) announced one of its demining dogs recently produced a litter of 13 puppies.

CMAC director-general Heng Ratana said on April 19 that the 13 were the latest additions to the more than 100 that CMAC’s dogs have produced.

“The puppies were likely to be given the chance to become mine-sniffing dogs themselves, as the Kingdom’s mine clearance demands exceed the number of trained animals which are in service,” he added.

He explained, however, that not all puppies would be suitable for locating mines and explosives. His unit would begin to train them, prior to series of selection tests.

“After we have trained them for a while, we will test them. If they pass, we take them. If they fail, they will be taught other skills,” he said.

“In the past, Cambodia sourced its mine-detection dogs from abroad, but we are now capable of breeding and training our own animals. We even export them to other nations,” he added.

Ratana stated that at present, the Kingdom has over 200 demining dogs, either in service or undergoing training.

“This is not enough for the demands of our demining workload. This is why we are working hard to breed and train more dogs. In addition to mine-sniffing, we also train them in other tasks such as security,” he said.

In a recent report, CMAC detailed how the Swedish army began training demining dogs in Cambodia in 1996, as part of a project which ran until 2002, when CMAC took over the programme. In 2016, CMAC produced its first mine-sniffing dogs. Since then, it has supplied them to several other nations.

The report said that mine-sniffing dogs had made a significant contribution to demining operations in the Kingdom. In addition, trained canines had also joined police officers in tracking suspects and detecting illegal drugs.