A K9 to count on

He is a dark and handsome hero with a playful face and a loving personality who is on call 24/7 with his partner, saving lives and bringing closure to families who lost someone.

Meet Dante, a four-year-old German Shepherd who is one of seven K9 Unit cadaver dogs in KZN and is based at Umhlali K9 unit together with his partner in crime and play time, Sergeant Clinton Odayar.

“He is a naughty little chap, happy and playful. He is like me really – K9 dogs always pick up the character of their handlers,” said Odayar, who lives in Westbrook and has been working in the K9 unit for nine years.

Odayar and Dante met at the SAPS Dog School in Pretoria in November 2015, where they spent five months in training.

“Cadaver dog training is achieved through an imprinting process whereby they get conditioned to the scents of people – both alive and dead. These are the only two scents they look for when they are in the field. If they are looking for someone who is alive, we give them a shoe or shirt that has the scent of the lost person on it. In the case of cadavers, they all smell the same.”

The training takes roughly five months and is not a case of all work and no play.

“We also go through a bonding process, spending play time together and getting to know each other. We are not just work partners. We are family. I have two daughters, Jenna-Lee (4) and Mckenzie (2) and Dante, my eldest son. Unfortunately I live in a flat, so I can’t take him home.”

Odayar said there are 13 dogs working in the K9 unit and they are grouped into six different disciplines.

“The dogs are trained to work in a specific field based on their personalities. They are either trackers, in narcotics, on patrol, in explosives (finding firearms and checking ATM bombings for example), biological detection (sniffing out blood or sperm at crime scenes) or cadavers.”

He said Dante gets along well with his explosive and biological detection colleagues.

“In his line of work, he is helping the community, so the more people interact with him, the better. You want people to be excited to be found by him, not scared. One of the main requirements as a search and rescue dog is not to show any aggression.”

Dante’s impressive nose can point out a cadaver that is seven metres deep in the water and can pick up a scent up to 200 metres away from him, depending on the wind direction.

“Being without Dante is like sending a policeman out without a firearm. I feel useless without him.”

Odayar said one of their greatest achievements was finding a baby that had been missing for three days.

“An 18-month-old baby was reported missing by the family after they searched for two days. They were convinced the baby was dead, but I knew Dante would find him. It took him 45 minutes to find him in one-and-a-half metre tall grass about 200 metres away from the family home. He was dehydrated, but otherwise fine.

“People love Dante – it is so rewarding to see the appreciation from the family when he has helped to find their loved one, even it is just bones. It gives them closure.”

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