Dogs at War

The new weapon against rhino poachers is dogs trained to track them down before the damage is done.

- Sue Adams

Johan van Straten, dog trainer extraordinaire, is crouched in the bushveld near Hoedspruit, cuddling a four-month-old springer spaniel called Maggie. She is being trained as a tracker and can already follow a trail through the bush, on a long lead. Maggie and Johan are delighted as she has just finished a tracking route on her own.

“We train these dogs to track poachers and, with any luck, we can stop them before it’s too late, before the rhino is killed or has its horn removed,” explains Johan, back at the Southern African Wildlife College in Limpopo, where he trains dogs at the Dog Unit.

‘This guy has a soft touch. He’ll never control all these dogs’, I think, as I see a mass of dogs rush to greet him at the dog compound. They jump all over him, licking his face as he falls over laughing. I could not have been more wrong about the soft touch. With one command, they all back off and sit.

“I never raise my voice,” says Johan. “We speak in deep voices for commands and a higher pitch for affection.” There is obviously a two-way love affair that goes on between the dogs and this quietly spoken man.

To show me how he trains the dogs for tracking and apprehension, he takes one of his favourites, Dozer, a Belgian Malinois cross, into the bush. Wisdom Makhubele, a colleague of Johan’s, is kitted out in a bulky padded jacket and Dozer is put through his paces. Controlled by Johan’s calm voice and whistles, Dozer attacks, lets go and attacks again. I wouldn’t want to be the one in that jacket as Wisdom is thrown around. But one command from Johan, and Dozer rushes back to his side with a lolling tongue and a huge grin. Wisdom takes off the jacket and Johan encourages Dozer to give Wisdom a big love. He leaps up on his hind legs to lick Wisdom’s face.