After a long journey, which took them firstly from Andalusia to the nature reserve of Marsiliana (province of Grosseto), six valuable Malinois and Labrador dogs have been entrusted to the handlers of PLUTO Anti-poison Dog Units (ADUs)

Between 24th and 28th October, under the careful supervision of trainer Raul Martín, the dogs began to relate with the six handlers from the State Forestry Corps, and to carry out field training and searching activities with them.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Giancarlo Papitto of the State Forestry Corps, in charge for Anti-poison Dog Units at national level, together with the Spanish trainer, were checking and improving the training and search methods that the handlers use with their first six dogs, entrusted to them in June 2016 and already operational.

The Spanish trainer has assessed the searching skills of the dog/handler pairs as very good: he has noticed remarkable progresses since the last June, thanks to the handlers’ intense and constant commitment, to the ever improving understanding between dogs and handlers, and to the dogs’ refined olfactory sensitivity.

During the training week, the handlers and the trainer could also take advantage of the presence of Dr. Haouet from the Veterinary Preventive Medicine Institute of Umbria and Marche, as regards toxic substances used to kill wild and domestic animals, that ADU dogs are trained to find.

Therefore, when the last six dogs will have settled in, each handler is going to have two extraordinary animals as partners, thus being able to perform even long and strenuous  inspections.

The six PLUTO ADUs are thus composed: