Sumy National Agrarian University, together with the Belgian organisation APOPO (Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling), will establish a dog training centre for students’ practical training.
Our institution of higher education is one of only three national universities that provide knowledge in the field of dog training. Since the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the vector of development of this speciality has shifted to training deminers who will work with dogs to clear the country of mines in the future. A successful example of working with four-legged friends is the work of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Sumy Oblast, which has established a dog training centre. The dogs from the Sumy Centre of the State Emergency Service often help representatives of the service from different parts of Ukraine (read the article here: https://suspilne.media/617521-sobaki-saperi-z-sumskoi-oblasti-dopomagaut-rozminovuvati-harkivsinu-ak-ih-gotuut-do-roboti-na-minnih-polah/.
In June 2023, Sumy National Agrarian University signed a Memorandum with the Belgian NGO APOPO, which uses animals for demining. The document envisages cooperation on activities to assist in the educational process of training students in the educational and professional programme “Cynology” of the faculty of biology and technology, joint research activities in the field of canine science and the implementation of a joint project to build capacity in the training of service animals. As part of the Memorandum, in November last year, a group of our dog training students went to a five-month training course for dog guides at the APOPO training centre in the Kingdom of Cambodia. 10 students from Sumy NAU have already received the international certification of deminers (read more at the link: https://snau.edu.ua/studenti-demineri-snau-projshli-sertifikaciyu-v-kambodzhi/)
This cooperation continued with the signing of an agreement on 17 January 2024 by the Rector of Sumy National Agrarian University Volodymyr LADYKA and the Head of Programmes of APOPO Ukraine Nicholas GEST on the establishment of a joint dog training centre on the basis of the educational institution. In future, under the guidance of APOPO specialists, our students will be able to gain experience in the targeted training of sapper dogs.
