For the past 14 years, so-called jackal-dogs have been used by Russia’s largest airline Aeroflot to aid security at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. The jackal-dog is a hybrid originating from crossbreeding North Caucasus jackals and Arctic reindeer herding dogs. The puppies who are chosen to be trained as sniffer dogs have 10 to 35 percent of jackal blood in them.
The idea to crossbreed a dog and a jackal was first proposed by Soviet biologist Klim Sulimov back in the late 1980s, when he was working in the Interior Ministry. Hence another name that this hybrid is known by, the Sulimov dog.
They are trained from the age of three months, although they start to be taken to the airport from the age of one month in order to make them get used to their future “place of work”.
The full story "A jackal's nose for the job: Specially-bred canines helping to find explosives at Moscow airport" will be online on Monday, 29.06.2015.
All rights reserved by Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
