From September 6 to October 1, 2021, 6 canine team of customs have completed a special initial training course on search for narcotics, psychotropic substances, tobacco products, weapons and ammunition, amber and banknotes in the Department for Specialized Training and Canine Services of the State Customs Service of Ukraine.

Dog handlers, who are mastering the ability to search for items and substances hidden from customs control for the first time, undergo full-time training, although due to quarantine, most of the training process in the Department was mostly distance.

According to the results of training, four dog teams were trained in a double specialization, namely:

Serhii Oharenko (Zaporizhzhia Customs) with a sniffer dog Leo (German Shepherd) – narcotics, weapons and ammunition and banknotes;

Yaroslav Zamrii (Lviv Customs) with a sniffer dog Alfa (Malinois) – narcotics  and amber;

Yurii Lysenko (Lviv Customs) with a sniffer dog Dzhordana (Malinois) – narcotics and weapons and ammunition;

Serhii  Zozulia (Kharkiv Customs) with a sniffer dog Ebbi Eibl (Malinois) – narcotics and banknotes.

During the training, the Department’s specialists made every effort to ensure that during this period, dog handlers could not only establish a relationship with their four-legged friend, but also taught him to pinpoint storage locations on various search objects.

According to the results of the practical and theoretical parts of the final control the canine teams of Kyiv Customs Valerii Sakhnenko with a sniffer dog Nora has the mark “exelent”.

After the successful completion of the final control, all dog handlers received the appropriate certificates.

Then, in a few days, canine teams will return to the locations of the divisions and begin their direct work to protect the country’s borders from the movement of prohibited items and substances, using the acquired knowledge.