KOLLAM: He can sniff out explosives and, surprisingly, answer simple mathematical questions by barking. Arjun, the labrador with Kollam Rural police’s first K9 squad, turned 10 on Tuesday.
The police dog, officially named Blackie and identified as Dog No 284, celebrated his birthday at the Kollam Rural SP’s office in Kottarakkara.
The K9 squad was formed on September 1, 2016, when Arjun was just two-and-a-half months old. He was subsequently sent for specialised training along with handlers and underwent a seven-month explosive detection course at the National Training Centre for Dogs of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, along with a Special Protection Group (SPG) batch.
After successfully completing training, Arjun was placed on security detail during the visits of VVIPs, including the prime minister and the president.
“His record includes detecting a gelatin stick from a field within Pathanapuram police station limits, a bullet in Kulathupuzha and a country-made bomb under Eroor police station limits,” said Shaji Sugunan, Kollam Rural SP.
Arjun’s abilities, however, are not limited to detecting explosives. He was also trained to recognise numbers and respond to basic mathematical operations.
“Arjun was given training in Haryana. During that period there was another canine who used to react to numbers. This gave us the idea to train Arjun,” said Premkumar, Arjun’s handler since the formation of the squad.
When given the command ‘three plus three’ Arjun barks six times. ‘Four minus four’ is met with silence, indicating zero. He can similarly respond to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division commands.
“This ability to recognise numbers and respond accordingly is known as numerical cognition. Arjun developed the ability to recognise numbers and quantities through systematic training,” said former Kollam chief veterinary officer Dr D Shine Kumar.