An IDU dog practices locating a victim
An IDU dog practices locating a victimIDU

On Friday morning, a special workshop was held at the Israel Dog Unit (IDU) base in Kfar Tapuah in Samaria for trainers from Woof-Dogs Academy. The IDU, a nonprofit specializing in working dogs, shared their experience in canine security and rescue work, and taught the trainers learned how to handle rescue, detection, and cadaver dogs. The workshop included both theoretical and practical lessons.

As part of the theoretical lessons, IDU director Yekutiel Ben-Yaakov lectured on a broad array of topics related to the proper training and deployment of working dogs in the search for missing persons, correct methods to analyze and manage a missing person case, the integration of dogs with other search equipment, assessment and allocation of searchers, and proper care and training of working dogs from a young age.

IDU director Yekutiel Ben-Yaakov commented: “We are always happy to host professional trainers, apprentices and graduates, and to enlist them in the circle of Israel's rescue forces, with the aim of saving lives and locating missing persons."

"In the shadow of the war, we see paramount importance in increasing the training and certification of dog handlers and working dogs in light of the situation, and the threats from the north and south and also from the east. The program of building a national dog database, together with experienced handlers, with the ability to provide a response in a national emergency is a matter of urgency. We wish them success.”