I would like to present a report that was written almost 60 years ago. I have tried to translate it to English and I hope that it is understandable. The report was written by the founder of the Army dog centre, Einar Edström.
 

Comments regarding mine detection dogs used in the Finnish Armed Forces

During the summer of 1945 the first trials with mine detection dogs were conducted in northern Finland and the first official statement that they had been used was given by the daily papers in Helsinki on the 5th November 1945. The daily papers reported that searching for mines with dogs had achieved positive results.
The Finnish Armed Forces have not used mine detection dogs past the wars, however a certain amount of mine detection have been performed when ordinary patrol dogs alerted their handlers about the presence of mines during patrols.

The opportunity to develop the dog’s mine sniffing capability didn’t start until 1945.
Finland noticed that during WWII most of armies from larger countries used “mine dogs”. It was known that in 1943 the British Armed Forces used mine dogs during battles in Northern Africa. The “dogs were called “mine dogs” not only because of their role in finding mines but also due to their role in destroying enemy tanks. These dogs were outfitted with a big mine on their back. The mine was equipped with an antenna and worked almost like a naval mine. These dogs were trained to run towards the tanks, of course the dogs themselves were blown up, but the tanks were stopped due to the damage caused by the exploding mine. This category of dogs is, for many reasons, not of interest for us so I will only continue with a description of the mine detecting dog’s work.

When Russians performed clearance of a larger area, they disarmed 62000 mines and the casualty rate was 2 dogs and 8 sappers. The Russian mine detection dogs were extremely well trained. As a comparison it should be mentioned that the official figures from the Finnish Armed Forces clearance activities during the summer of 1944 represented a value of 71536 mines with a casualty rate of 150 men. No dogs were used.

The procedure of searching for mines with a dog works in this way. The dog uses it olfactory sense to detect the location of the mine. Once located the dog should announce the mine’s location in accordance with it’s training. The thing that the dog senses is the explosive. It still seems to be that most of the mines contain the explosive trinitrotoluene. This explosive emits a scent that cannot be sensed by the human olfactory sense. It appears that it’s rather difficult for the canine olfactory to sense this explosive scent. Trials have shown that dry trinitrotoluene laid on a dry surface, for example at top of a stone, cannot be detected by the dog. The scent of the trinitrotoluene appears to increase when it’s mixed with water, which also appears to find it’s way in requisite amounts into closed chambers, like a bomb mine or the bounding mine.

Mines with a wood cover are easily penetrated by moisture and in a concrete mine the moisture is sucked up and will remain even if the mine has been in sand. For example, having been placed in a railway embankment that has dried out over a hot summer. It must be pointed out that if the trinitrotoluene has been in the ground for a considerable time it appears that the dogs can detect it much easier even if it is deep in the soil. The reason for this is that the moisture in the ground causes the trinitrotoluene to form into a gas which makes it easier for the dogs to detect. Experience showed that dogs signalled at the pits where the mines used to be. This took place even a couple of weeks after the removal of the mines. On one occasion when the dog alerted but no mine was found, it was noticed that a tuft of grass that had been on top of a mine had been thrown away a little bit to the side and the gas form of trinitrotoluene could still be sensed on the tuft as well as in the empty pits.

The former inspector of the frontier guard working dogs was assigned to train mine detection dogs and handlers at the end of January 1945. The first course started in February of the same year, 10 sappers and 10 dogs attended the course. There were no training methods and no regulations to follow so they had to grope their way during live search exercises within the mined areas in northern Finland. During this time war-weariness was obvious and a great respect for removal of mines could be seen. Due to this fact you couldn’t get voluntary applicants, therefore the personnel were not first class. The dogs used had been trained for other services and that caused some difficulties during retraining.

The percentage of turnover of personnel became relatively high, and the dogs had to change handler very often which had a negative effect on the performance of their work. In the beginning both officers and privates were very doubtful about the dogs and had no confidence in them. The dogs were looked upon as jeopardizing safety. These doubts disappeared when the selection of the 10 dogs was finished and they worked the whole summer without a single accident.

Dogs do not have a natural interest for the trinitrotoluene vapour so the first difficulty to be overcome is to get their interest directed towards TNT. Of course, how the dog indicates a mine or the tripwire also gives you certain difficulties. The mine searching took place in this way. The dog moved in a zigzag pattern in certain curves in front of the handler. The connection between the dog and handler was a 20-metre leash. To indicate, the dog was supposed to sit in front of the mine. It must not dig or in any way run the risk of getting the mine to detonate. The dog’s way of performance is in most cases individual and by reading the behaviour of the dog many handlers can tell at an early stage when the dog has scented a mine. Therefore it’s very important that dog and handler can cooperate and that a change of handler is set to a minimum.

Here are a couple of examples from the activities in Northern Finland.
At Novamiemi where demining was done at a known German minefield, the commander noticed that when one of the dogs got near the minefield, the handler showed obvious signs of fear which was reproduced in the dog and it kept close to the handler’s feet. The handler was replaced and the dog performed excellently.
On the 9th of June 1945, a dog named Jack pointed out a mine at the side of a road in the neighbourhood of Kemijärvi. When prodding a box mine was detected and from that point 18 other mines were supposed to detonate at the same time. The sappers had not found this place while searching. This mine was located under a phone wire. Three kilometres away a telegraph/phone repair unit was marching towards that exact location. Without doubt one of those personnel would have stepped on this mine if the dog had not detected it. In this way the dog saved some of the unit members – perhaps the whole unit would have been killed.

One lieutenant Auer that had the mine detecting dog San in his unit of sappers wrote in the magazine for sappers “Haku” about the searching for mines in the area of Kemijärvi: Boys, if you don’t find mines, let San search, if San doesn’t find any mines, then there are no mines. This opinion represents every one of the sappers in the unit. “ In July 1945 the same lieutenant Auer wrote: “ San has to this date 136 mines to his credit. The numbers are increasing every day. He has found box mines beneath the hard surface of the country road, where the prodder can’t penetrate, as well as in moist soil to a depth of 30 cm. San is equivalent to two joking colonnade’s of sappers and this estimation is very modest

The commanding officer mentioned before, major T. Raita, said 1st lieutenant Auer deserved personal credit for San’s results. He was one of the unit leaders that fully trusted the dog and used it in all the tasks that he had been ordered to perform.

The ten dogs mentioned all found mines, some many and some few.
The most important result of the dog’s performance is that they could be used as a further control and show where littered mines had been left.
With the help of dogs unknown minefields have been discovered and dogs have detected mines buried in such soil, i.e. hard road surfaces were the prodder was impossible to use.

The 23^rd of July 1945, before a unit for repairing telegraph/phone passed, San found a buried box that contained 49 concrete mines. It would have been quite a “bang” if it had detonated.

On the 14^th of September the dog Ukku found 3 bomb mines that been placed in the fields as littered mines in the area of Inari. By further mine searching 15 bomb mines and 5 anti tank mines were found.

The dog Pels detected in the area of Inari 3 bomb mines that had been placed in a sand pit, which had been used for road improvements.

On one occasion a sergeant had the task of checking an already cleared area with the dog Pels. The dog started to scent and the sergeant pulled him away. The dog pulled again to the same area and when at the location it made an indication. The sergeant then went in front of the dog’s nose and stepped on the ground and said - “Nothing is to be found here”. At that moment he stepped on the bomb mine, it jumped and it tore the sergeant’s pants to pieces and the prodder of the transmitter punched him in the thigh. Fortunately the mine didn’t go off. If it had detonated, there is no doubt that both dog and handler would have been killed and the lives of other people nearby would have been put in jeopardy. This exemplifies the safety of the dog and the importance of a good handler who has confidence in his dog.

During the time after 1945 dogs have been used widely in Northern Finland in searching for mines that have been left and they have made a good effort. The areas are wide and dogs and sappers are few, and time after time you can read in the papers about mine accidents that still happens. This shows that the power of the TNT doesn’t decrease due to years of exposure in wet ground.

There should be no doubt about the dogs utilized today being heavy enough to trigger a mine, at least the small anti-personnel mine – the box mine. To remove this risk and also improve some aspects of transportation the Finnish experts are considering using smaller dogs such as the terrier, spaniel and schnauzer. The Finnish spitz has also been considered. How  breeds that are interested in hunting – if only for rats and field mice – could be used is not possible at the moment to judge. These trials haven’t started and the idea is just an intellectual exercise at this time.

A Special Thanks to Andy Smith and Don Christian helping me out with the English language!

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