They seek that the training of rescue dogs receive international certification
▲ Trainers from various countries participated in a meeting on dog training at CU.Photo Victor Camacho
Fernando Camacho Servin
Newspaper La Jornada
Sunday March 12, 2023, p. eleven
Although rescue dog training work is already being done in Mexico, we still lack
advance in the training of a greater number of dogs trained in these tasks and facilitate that the national certification approaches the international standards, said Julio Alejandro Velázquez, head of the Department of Emergency Attention and coordinator of the Canine Rescue Unit of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
After participating yesterday in the third International Meeting of Search, Rescue and Target Detection Dogs, held in Ciudad Universitaria, the specialist stressed that Mexico has a great need for trained dogs, due to the high vulnerability of various regions of the country. earthquakes, floods, landslides and other disasters.
Since the 1985 earthquakes, UNAM and other institutions have trained search dogs, but we still lack We have to extend the world standards to Mexico so that the national certification tests focus on also having the international one, which is very similar. Other Latin American countries have achieved it and we must increase the number of certified dogs
.
At yesterday’s meeting -where some 150 trainers and 30 dogs from various local organizations participated-, Alios Balog, president of the International Rescue Dog Organization (IRO, for its acronym in German), was present, which It can help to strengthen ties with said entity, Velázquez stressed.
This was a huge achievement, because we were able to get Balog to give a workshop, a little taste of what they do in the IRO, and see what we do here.
he highlighted.
He added that UNAM has 10 dogs certified in advanced search and rescue work, as well as another eight in intermediate level
and five more who have just started their training. This process takes about a year and a half according to national standards, during which time the physical and cognitive abilities of the dog are consolidated.
